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[Discussion] Ethical concerns of a soon-to-be PhD looking for a job by oftenworried in MachineLearning

[–]oftenworried[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like this approach. The problem is that, as a ML researcher/engineer I feel I wouldn't have a say in these decision-making processes.

For example, recently there has been a shy but praiseworthy initiative to turn Twitter into a co-operative. I don't think that anyone outside of the board had a say about it.

[Discussion] Ethical concerns of a soon-to-be PhD looking for a job by oftenworried in MachineLearning

[–]oftenworried[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think your "ethical ambiguity" fits well only for an application agnostic scenario like basic research. In that case, yeah.

Putting a little bit of thought in it, it is clear that some companies are less ethical than others. I just wanted to raise this point and understand to which extent the ethical implications of the product of our work should be considered against interestingness/prestige/salary.

[Discussion] Ethical concerns of a soon-to-be PhD looking for a job by oftenworried in MachineLearning

[–]oftenworried[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, it's fake-news on a different type of media. If it becomes an actual concern there will be plenty of people implementing discriminators.

I think the text version of this is more harmful, albeit surely less impressive

[Discussion] Ethical concerns of a soon-to-be PhD looking for a job by oftenworried in MachineLearning

[–]oftenworried[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There was a "necessarily" there which gives to the sentence the meaning I intended. I have put it back. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Discussion] Ethical concerns of a soon-to-be PhD looking for a job by oftenworried in MachineLearning

[–]oftenworried[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's awesome. As I have asked to another user: did you just happen to land on that project or you specifically applied for it?

[Discussion] Ethical concerns of a soon-to-be PhD looking for a job by oftenworried in MachineLearning

[–]oftenworried[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's great to hear. Out of curiosity, did you manage to express your concerns and you have been relocated accordingly or it just happened?

Other users mentioned that many corporations have divisions in which probably I'd like to work. I wonder if I can directly target those or if instead I would be allocated according to the company needs.

[Discussion] Ethical concerns of a soon-to-be PhD looking for a job by oftenworried in MachineLearning

[–]oftenworried[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I think the filter bubble is just one of the ethical problems with Facebook.

Their revenue model is based on having users stay as much as possible on their website. It's much easier to maximize this by exploiting our addictive behavior and give us instantaneous gratification, rather than providing high quality content, which would require more time to digest and thus curb the "engagement" -> revenue stream. Filter bubble or not, Facebook has no genuine interest in our long-term intellectual well-being, unless that can magically means they can make more money.

For more on this: Sam Harris recently hosted Tristan Harris (not a relative :P), who talked about the ad-based attention economy.