Timnit Gebru—Co-founded Black in AI to address severe lack of diversity in artificial intelligence research
After observing only six Black attendees among an estimated 8,500 people at the 2016 NeurIPS conference, Gebru co-founded Black in AI with Rediet Abebe in 2017. The organization advocates for increased Black representation in AI research and development, hosting workshops at major AI conferences and building community among underrepresented researchers.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEI Programs | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Racial Justice | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.858 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
MIT Technology Review profiled Gebru as Black in AI founder addressing diversity crisis
MIT Technology Review interviewed Gebru about founding Black in AI after noting only six Black attendees among 8,500 at the 2016 NeurIPS conference, describing the AI field's 'diversity crisis' and how it poisons algorithms.