A look at the years of warnings about AI from researchers, including several women of color, who say we need to take the problems and risks seriously today
Today the risks of artificial intelligence are clear — but the warning signs have been there all along — T — IMNIT GEBRU DIDN'T set out to work in AI.
It matters because it connects present concern to who raised which harms, rather than limiting the discussion to high-profile extinction-risk statements such as James Manyika's warning about AI's potential severity.
First-order effects
The researchers and communities highlighted gain a clearer claim to having identified AI harms before those concerns became central to public debate.
Organizations deploying or developing AI face more pressure to address current harms—rather than present safety solely as a future, theoretical problem.
Second-order effects
AI-policy and corporate-governance debates are pushed to weigh bias, accountability, and affected communities alongside catastrophic-risk narratives.
Labs and buyers may face greater scrutiny over whether ethical review and oversight are built into development, not left to informal peer review.
Third-order effects
If this broader framing persists, AI governance could shift from a narrow model-safety agenda toward operational oversight that covers both immediate social harms and longer-horizon risks.
The durable fault line will be whether institutions treat early warnings as input to product and policy decisions, or as criticism addressed only after deployment.
The trend: AI risk governance is broadening from a debate over hypothetical frontier dangers into a contest over whose evidence counts and which harms require action now.
“People's lives are at stake, but not because of some super intelligent system,” Buolamwini says, “but because of an overreliance on technical systems. I want people to understand that the harms are real, and that they're present.” — https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Black women and women of color have been the visionaries warning about the social inequities embedded in and produced by AI. For humanity's sake, listen to us! 🔥🔥🔥https:// www.rollingstone.com/...
“@safiyanoble, @timnitGebru, @jovialjoy , @ruchowdh , and Gangadharan have been calling for regulation for years, as soon as they saw the harm automated systems have on marginalized communities and people of color. But now that those harms could extend to the broader population,.…
Good feature in @RollingStone on key scholars in AI @timnitGebru @jovialjoy @safiyanoble Rumman Chowdhury & others, research that pioneered our field. These Women Warned Of AI's Dangers And Risks Long Before ChatGPT. https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Proud and humbled to have @KaporCenter Equitable Tech Policy Initiative support the work of @timnitGebru @DAIRInstitute @safiyanoble @UCLA_CR_DJ @jovialjoy @AJLUnited and more! Let's continue to support their work! https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Would love to see regulators welcome all of these amazing women to the table, in order to understand how to regulate AI. Don't be scared to learn, welcome all of them — they know what they're talking about!
“There are a few things they all want us to know: AI is not magic. LLMs are not sentient beings, and they won't become sentient. And the problems with these technologies aren't abstractions — they're here now and we need to take them seriously today.”👏🏾 https://www-rollingstone-c…
Long overdue coverage for the women who warned us about AI. Thank you, @lorenaoneil for the story. Thank you, @timnitGebru, @safiyanoble, @jovialjoy, @mmitchell_ai, @emilymbender, @ruchowdh for all you do.
Thank you to Lorena for writing this article, highlighting our works and showing that this is a collective effort. I like that you didn't equivocate about the fact that I was fired. The part about Hinton was such a great example of where we are with the doomers 🙄 [image]
Amazing article. From colorism, misogyny, racism, to exclusion of benefits and job applications, Women have been whistleblowing AI and tech companies for years.
There are some stories that you know will stay with you for a very long time, and this is one of them. Had the honor of profiling these five women who have been warning about AI risks before you'd ever heard of ChatGPT. My latest for @RollingStone https://www.rollingstone.com/ ..…
“How would that risk have changed if we'd listened to Gebru? What if we had heard the voices of the women like her who've been waving the flag about AI and machine learning?” Necessary read. How much better off we'd be if people actually listened to BW. https://www.rollingstone.c…
This story needs to be told again and again: 'As AI has exploded into the public consciousness, the men who created them have cried crisis. (...) How would that risk have changed if we'd listened to women like @timnitGebru?' @lorenaoneil https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Alas, some recognition AI pioneers @safiyanoble , @timnitGebru , @jovialjoy , @ruchowdh. So many ignored or tried to trample their brilliant research and prescient warnings. It's not too late to listen to them and act. https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
I am absolutely floored by this coverage of the amazing women changing the present and future of AI: https://www.rollingstone.com/ ... @timnitGebru, @ruchowdh, @safiyanoble, @jovialjoy... Thank you for being the absolute rockstars that you are, and for the work that you do! ✨
“I saw who was building the AI systems and their points of view. I saw what they were being used for, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, we have a problem.’ ” —@timnitGebru These Women Warned Of AI's Dangers And Risks Long Before ChatGPT - Rolling Stone https://www.rollingstone.com/ …