Skip to main content

'You just have the wrong idea about Facebook': Facebook's chief AI scientist defends the company over Black Lives Matter uproar

* Facebook has faced intense criticism from its own employees and civil rights groups over its response to a post by President Donald Trump about the Minneapolis George Floyd protests. * Facebook's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun said on Friday he is "still proud" to work for Facebook and that the social network is a "force for good in popular protest movements." * "The Floyd murder video was published in FB [Facebook], after all," he added. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. A senior Facebook AI scientist came out defending the company on Twitter, amid general employee criticism about the way it has recently handled incendiary posts. Yann LeCun, Facebook's former head of AI research and currently the company's chief AI scientist, responded on Friday to a Twitter user who'd asked if he was still proud to work at Facebook. "Still proud, yes.  I'm trying to be a decent person. You just have the wrong idea about Facebook," LeCun responded. He went further in defending Facebook's role in the Black Lives Matter protests, echoing a talking point by chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. LeCun said: "Facebook is a force for good in popular protest movements. Even if the platform can also be used by people we oppose. The Floyd murder video was published in FB, after all." Still proud, yes. I'm trying to be a decent person. You just have the wrong idea about Facebook. Facebook is a force for good in popular protest movements. Even if the platform can also be used by people we oppose. The Floyd murder video was published in FB, after all. — Yann LeCun (@ylecun) June 5, 2020 Zuckerberg reportedly made a similar point during a company-wide call on June 2 to outraged employees, saying that it was important that footage of Floyd's death was posted to Facebook. Cellphone footage of George Floyd being pinned by a police officer with his knee on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes was posted to Facebook on May 25, the same day he died, per a timeline from ABC News. Facebook received considerable backlash after it allowed a post from Donald Trump to remain up on May 29 which incited violence against the George Floyd protesters. Trump's post included the phrase: "When the looting starts, the shooting starts." Twitter placed the same post behind a clickthrough block, saying it violated its policy on "glorifying violence." Facebook chose to leave it untouched despite having similar guidelines. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blogpost the decision to leave it up was in part because Trump referred to bringing in the National Guard, which Facebook interpreted as a warning about state action.  The decision prompted outrage both amongst Facebook's employees and among civil rights leaders, and prompted at least one senior engineer to resign in protest. Facebook employees staged a virtual walkout to express their anger last week, and this week a group of the company's content moderators published a letter condemning Facebook's "lack of adequate action" against the president's post. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid
https://bit.ly/2UrdPut

Popular posts from this blog

Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck London fintech Lanistar used to raise $19 million at a $190 million valuation

* London-based fintech startup Lanistar has raised a £15 million ($19 million) funding round from Milaya Capital.  * Founded in 2019, Lanistar is building a personal financial management platform that will launch later in 2020.  * "We're expecting a huge amount of growth upon our launch and have already seen strong interest among our sign ups," Gurhan Kiziloz, founder and CEO of Lanistar, told Business Insider. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.  The coronavirus lockdown in the UK has brought the importance of managing money into sharp relief. A recent study from Money.com shows that 71% of UK households have saved cash during lockdown, and, with uncertainty about jobs and the economy looming, money management is now front of mind for many. Lanistar, a banking platform with a focus on personal finance, is one company offering tools for consumers to better manage their money. It has just raised a £15 million ($19 million) funding round from Mil...
Read more

'What is the X-Ray feature on Amazon Prime Video?': How to find and view bonus material about TV shows and movies

* X-Ray is an exclusive feature on Amazon Prime Video that displays bonus material about a show or movie, similar to the bonus features on a DVD. * X-Ray can show you information about the actors in a scene, the musical soundtrack, trivia, and more. * To activate X-Ray, you generally only need to click or tap within a video that's currently playing.   * Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories. Amazon Prime Video's X-Ray feature is, at least for now, not available on any other video streaming service. X-Ray works like the bonus features you find on a DVD or Blu-ray. With just a few clicks or taps, you can get additional information about many of the TV shows and movies on Prime Video. When you activate X-Ray, Prime displays an overlay on top of your show, offering additional information.  Check out the products mentioned in this article: Amazon Prime Video ($8.99 a month at Amazon) Roku (from $49.99 at Roku) There are several kinds of info...
Read more

The 11 most important details we already know about the PlayStation 5, Sony's next-generation video game console set to arrive this year

* The PlayStation 5, Sony's next-generation game console that's deep in production, is scheduled to launch during the 2020 holiday season. * As you might expect, the PlayStation 5 is promised to be more powerful than the existing PlayStation 4 — and we've slowly been learning more about the next-gen console's new features since it was first revealed. * So far, Sony has offered a first glimpse at the new console via its new DualSense gamepad, and a tech demo highlighted the technical prowess of the new machine. * Here's everything we know so far about Sony's next-generation PlayStation console. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The PlayStation 5 is almost here. Sony's next-generation PlayStation game console is scheduled to arrive this holiday season, but we already know plenty of details about it right now: how powerful it is, its main features, and we've even gotten a good look at its new gamepad.  Here everything we kno...
Read more