Google ex-co-lead Timnit Gebru launches own AI research project

Dr Timnit Gebru, artificial intelligence (AI) researcher and ex-co-lead at Google's ethical AI research team has started her own research institute, The Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR).

In a press release, DAIR is described as, "an independent, community-rooted institute," that wants to, "counter Big Tech's pervasive influence on the research, development and deployment of AI."

Gebru was ousted from Google after a falling out with management over an email she had sent. She believes that the prospective harms that are embedded within AI technology can be prevented and, "when its production and deployment include diverse perspectives and deliberate processes, it can be put to work for people, rather than against them."

The institute has received funding from the Ford Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Kapoor Center and Open Society Foundation.