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A Big Corporation (IBM), Acting Ethically?! cool ! (I hope)

C

columbus

yawn <ignore> yawn
icehorse said:
IBM announced it's suspending research into facial recognition technology due to built-in racial biases. It's hard not to be cynical these days but is this - perchance - an example of a Big Corp™ acting ethically?

Be still my heart:

Why IBM Decided to Halt all Facial Recognition Development | Lionbridge AI
Click to expand...

Given my lifetime history with megacorporations like IBM, it would take a lot to convince me that it's suddenly developed a conscience.

Far more plausible is the explanation that facial recognition technology doesn't work as well as predicted. So, it's not going to be as profitable as predicted. So, they're making lemons into lemonade by claiming it's a moral decision.

How else to explain upcoming earnings reports to shareholders?
Tom
 
Revoltingest

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
icehorse said:
IBM announced it's suspending research into facial recognition technology due to built-in racial biases. It's hard not to be cynical these days but is this - perchance - an example of a Big Corp™ acting ethically?

Be still my heart:

Why IBM Decided to Halt all Facial Recognition Development | Lionbridge AI
Click to expand...
Suspending R&D is avoiding rather than solving the problem.

From the link....
In a letter to congress sent on June 8th, IBM’s CEO Arvind Krishna made a bold statement regarding the company’s policy toward facial recognition. “IBM no longer offers general purpose IBM facial recognition or analysis software,” says Krishna. “IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values and Principles of Trust and Transparency.” The company has halted all facial recognition development and disapproves or any technology that could lead to racial profiling.

A hollow gesture, given that other companies still offer the product?
And as I recall from other articles on the subject, some are inferior.
IBM could be worsening the problem.
The better approach would be to improve their own product.
IBM is currently greatly cutting back on their workforce with
massive layoffs. This seems a better explanation.

Btw, some trivia....
IBM doesn't use the term "layoff".
It's called "RA" for "resource action"
 
stvdv

stvdv

Veteran Member
icehorse said:
IBM announced it's suspending research into facial recognition technology due to built-in racial biases.

It's hard not to be cynical these days
Click to expand...
Agreed. Personally I don't see it as cynical even, but more as "being realistic"

icehorse said:
but is this - perchance - an example of a Big Corp™ acting ethically?
Click to expand...
Ethical

OR

Black/White, discrimination is "hot" these days
Big Corp™ does not want Big Lawsuits™
But that can't be the problem I think

Reading the article I almost believe in them
 
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stvdv

stvdv

Veteran Member
icehorse said:
is this - perchance - an example of a Big Corp™ acting ethically?
Click to expand...
Believing in a miracle like "Jesus was walking on water" is more easy than believing in "ethical facial recognition by Big Corp™."
 
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Mindmaster

Mindmaster

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
icehorse said:
IBM announced it's suspending research into facial recognition technology due to built-in racial biases. It's hard not to be cynical these days but is this - perchance - an example of a Big Corp™ acting ethically?

Be still my heart:

Why IBM Decided to Halt all Facial Recognition Development | Lionbridge AI
Click to expand...

No, it's big tech fearing the outrage mob and kneeling.

So, I guess it's good if you like that kinda thing, but bad for our progress and future. (While this is a controversial tech, the approach may interfere with other developments.)
 
sun rise

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Having worked in a couple of large corporations during my career, a phone company and an international bank, what I saw led me to not be totally black and white.

Of course money is a premiere motive. And people being people, selfish motives are extremely easy to find everywhere. But most are open to "doing well by doing good" especially given the financial results. Here's just one example story: Just 100 Do Well By Doing Good

Companies that succeed now don’t just do well—they do good. Increasingly, the only way to win is to treat your employees and customers as if they matter as much as your profits. The secret is that if you do that, it will pay off in more ways than you can count. It’s counter-intuitive to think you will earn more by increasing the largest cost of doing business, your payroll. But it works...

IBM was #5 here: 2018 Rankings — JUST Capital

Of course they are not saintly nor perfect, And they do lots of bad things. But I can acknowledge that without completely disparaging them.
 
bobhikes

bobhikes

Nondetermined
Premium Member
Shadow Wolf

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
Lyndon said:
The racial biases are it doesn't work on black people, and if you can't use it on black people what's the point of even using it??
Click to expand...
It only works for white men. Even with white women it just doesn't really work.
 
Twilight Hue

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
columbus said:
Given my lifetime history with megacorporations like IBM, it would take a lot to convince me that it's suddenly developed a conscience.

Far more plausible is the explanation that facial recognition technology doesn't work as well as predicted. So, it's not going to be as profitable as predicted. So, they're making lemons into lemonade by claiming it's a moral decision.

How else to explain upcoming earnings reports to shareholders?
Tom
Click to expand...
That's by far the most likely reason.

I'm pretty sure they didn't shelve facial recognition technology entirely. I see it resurfacing at some point in the future, and I'm pretty sure IBM would lead the charge.
 
Yerda

Yerda

Veteran Member
C

columbus

yawn <ignore> yawn
stvdv said:
Black/White, discrimination is "hot" these days
Big Corp™ does not want Big Lawsuits™
Click to expand...
Exactly.

If an IBM product resulted in a nasty outcome, like a cop killing a black guy or a jury convicting an innocent person or whatever, the costs would be huge. In the current social climate those risks are enormous, even though they weren't just a few years ago. It wouldn't even matter if their product weren't the main problem, just getting sued by someone( and their lawyers), would be a big hit to public relations and legal expenditures. We do live in a country where the litigation lottery is big business.
Tom
 
Revoltingest

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Jaiket said:
If IBM thought it could make more money for shareholders by cooking babies in microwaves it would be doing that, I reckon.
Click to expand...
It's best to infuse them with BBQ sauce first.
bbq-smash-bbq-sauce.jpg
 
Heyo

Heyo

Veteran Member
Nowhere Man said:
That's by far the most likely reason.

I'm pretty sure they didn't shelve facial recognition technology entirely. I see it resurfacing at some point in the future, and I'm pretty sure IBM would lead the charge.
Click to expand...
Yep. They announced stopping sales, no word on research.
 
Tambourine

Tambourine

Well-Known Member
Revoltingest said:
A hollow gesture, given that other companies still offer the product?
Click to expand...
Of course it's a hollow gesture. Why would anybody expect capitalists to suddenly find their ethics in a closet after centuries of neglect?
This is a PR move designed to head off bad publicity and to protect their brand.

That said, corporate press releases crowing progressive slogans could also be indicators for who they expect to win this conflict.
 
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