Inside Timnit Gebru’s last days at Google—and what happens next

How Russian hackers infiltrated the US government for months without being spotted

Sponsored by Arm The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Timnit Gebru speaks out 12.16.20 Good morning! Today: Timnit Gebru speaks frankly to us about the events leading up to her dismissal from Google and the ramifications for ethical AI more broadly. Also today: how Russian hackers were able to infiltrate the US government for months without anyone noticing. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. “I started crying”: Inside Timnit Gebru’s last days at Google—and what happens next   “Imagine somebody’s shooting at you with a gun and you’re screaming. And instead of trying to stop the person who’s shooting at you with a gun, they’re trying to stop you from screaming.” By now, we’ve all heard some version of the story. On December 2, after a protracted disagreement over the release of a research paper, Google forced out its ethical AI co-lead, Timnit Gebru. The paper was on the risks of large language models, AI models trained on staggering amounts of text data, which are a line of research core to Google’s business. Gebru, a leading voice in AI ethics, was one of the only Black women at Google Research. The move has since sparked a debate about growing corporate influence over AI, the long-standing lack of diversity in tech, and what it means to do meaningful AI ethics research. As of December 15, over 2,600 Google employees and 4,300 others in academia, industry, and civil society had signed a petition denouncing the dismissal of Gebru, calling it “unprecedented research censorship” and “an act of retaliation.” Gebru spoke at length to our AI reporter Karen Hao over Zoom about the build-up to her dismissal, the internal politics at Google, the fallout, and whether Big Tech and AI ethics can ever truly sit together. Read the full story. Want to listen to Timnit Gebru telling her story in her own words? Tune into this special episode of our podcast In Machines We Trust.  How Russian hackers infiltrated the US government for months without being spotted What’s happened: Thousands of companies and governments are racing to discover whether they have been hit by the Russian hackers who reportedly infiltrated several US government agencies. The stealthy techniques the hackers used mean it could take months to identify all their victims and remove whatever spyware they installed. How it went down: Hackers first broke into the systems of SolarWinds, an American software company. There, they inserted a back door into Orion, one of the company’s products. For several weeks beginning in March, any client that updated to the latest version of Orion unwittingly downloaded the compromised software, giving the hackers a way into their systems. SolarWinds says that “fewer than” 18,000 organizations ever downloaded the compromised update. How they got away with it: The hackers were “extremely clever and strategic,” says Greg Touhill, a former federal chief information security officer. Even once they had gained access through the back door in Orion, they moved slowly and deliberately. Instead of infiltrating many systems at once, which could easily have raised suspicions, they focused on a small set of selected targets. Read the full story.    —Patrick Howell O’Neill  We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + This website lets you tune in to a random forest somewhere in the world.    + Fool your colleagues on Zoom with this outfit which is magically both a suit AND pyjamas.    + Meet Phelan, the four-year-old rescue pup who has just become America’s fastest dog.   + Some gorgeous examples of nature-inspired architecture.   + It seems night trains are making a comeback across Europe. Sponsor Message A new horizon: Expanding the AI landscape Organizations are using AI to drive business and improve processes. That’s spurring changes in how they’re deploying the technology and governing its use. To see how industry leaders are stepping up, download the report here. The top ten must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Moderna’s covid-19 vaccine could be authorized in the US very shortly  The next (and potentially final) hurdle is an FDA committee meeting tomorrow. (CNBC)   + You can see the data that shows the vaccine is safe and effective for yourself. (Axios)    + The FDA has authorized the first at-home covid-19 test that doesn’t require a prescription. (NPR)   + Will the rapid creation of coronavirus vaccines permanently alter the timescales for vaccine development more generally? (Quartz)   + Proof of vaccination will be very valuable—and easy to abuse. (WP $)   + Most doses of a covid-19 treatment are going unused in the US. (The Verge)  2 Why winter is a perfect storm for covid-19 ❄️ It’s not just because cold weather forces people indoors. (National Geographic)   + Winter is making the pandemic worse. Here’s what you need to know. (TR)  3 The key to future election security starts with a roll of the dice 🎲 Risk-limiting audits could be crucial to securing democracy. But they use some unusual techniques. (TR)   + China seems to be spying on the US via Caribbean mobile phone networks. (The Guardian)   + Investors in breached software firm SolarWinds traded $280 million in stock days before a giant hack was revealed. (WP $)  4 Facebook is broken beyond repair The problems with it are mostly not glitches. They are the system working as designed. (The Atlantic)   + Facebook’s next big idea: a tool to summarize news articles so people won’t have to read them. (Buzzfeed)   + Facebook is building… Cameo. (Bloomberg)   + Facebook will shift UK users to California terms in order to avoid complying with European laws. (Reuters)   + Australia is suing Facebook for using a VPN app to spy on users. (TechCrunch)  5 Why our sense of time is so broken 🕰️ Trauma slows everything to a snail’s pace. (The Verge)   6 An 80s AIDS activist shaped the way we share health information online This is an incredible slice of history. (OneZero $)   7 The hidden cost of online “buy now, pay later” services “If you’re not sure who’s funding the bottom line, it’s probably you.” (The Atlantic)   + Why Klarna millennial customers are losing faith. (New Statesman) 8 Walmart is planning to use driverless trucks starting next year 🚚 But how many times now have we heard that driverless tech is just around the corner… (The Verge)   9 Home workers are hiring people to watch them 👀 The relentless worship of productivity really does lead people to do some strange things. (Wired UK)   10 Magnetic tape’s surprisingly promising future Most computer users rely on tape every day without realizing it. (The Economist $) Discover how the next wave of computing technologies will change your business. Join us this February for Future Compute, our virtual conference on intelligent computing. We'll explore the building blocks of computing and how advancements in these areas will revolutionize the business world. Register now. Quote of the day “If I see you do it again, you’re f***ing gone.” —Tom Cruise rants at members of the Mission: Impossible 7 crew who broke social distancing rules on set. Top image credit: Nhung Le Please send pyjama suits to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up for free The age of implementation Join us virtually | March 23–25, 2021 Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

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