At the highly anticipated NeurIPS artificial intelligence conference, a speech by Rosalind Picard, a professor at the MIT Media Lab, quickly sparked strong reactions in the industry due to comments related to racial bias.
In her keynote titled "How to Optimize the Most Important Things," Picard mentioned a "Chinese student who had been expelled from a top university" and quoted the student claiming that "no one taught morals or values at the school." Although she later added that "most Chinese people I know are honest and have high moral standards," her remarks still stirred widespread controversy in the field.
Google DeepMind scientist Jiao Sun was the first to share the presentation slides on the social media platform X, bluntly stating: "Eliminating racial bias from large language models is much easier than eliminating bias from humans!" Meta research scientist Yuandong Tian retweeted Sun's comment and remarked, "This is an obvious racial bias. How could this happen at NeurIPS?"
During the Q&A session after the talk, an attendee pointed out that this was the only instance in Picard's speech where someone’s nationality was mentioned, and he found it "a bit offensive." He suggested that Picard remove this reference in future talks, to which Picard seemed to agree.
The NeurIPS conference organizers quickly issued a statement, sternly noting: "We want to specifically address the comments made during the invited talk this afternoon. This is something NeurIPS will never tolerate, and it does not align with our code of conduct. We will communicate directly with the speaker to address this issue. NeurIPS is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone is treated equally."
Picard subsequently issued an apology, expressing "regret" for mentioning the student's nationality. She acknowledged, "I realize this was unnecessary, unrelated to my point, and caused unexpected negative associations. I apologize for this and am very sorry for the distress it has caused. I will learn from this experience and welcome suggestions on how to make amends to the community."
This incident once again highlights the challenges that the technology and academic sectors face in eliminating racial bias. In today's rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence, how to avoid discrimination and promote inclusion while fostering technological innovation has become a critical issue that the industry urgently needs to address.
It is worth noting that this controversy is not directed at AI technology itself, but rather reflects the deeper issues that the academic community still faces in dealing with cultural differences and ethnic sensitivity. This event may prompt the industry to further reflect on and improve relevant mechanisms, collectively creating a more open and respectful academic ecosystem.
