Comment by kccqzy
4 hours ago
> seems like soooo much efficiency waiting to be unlocked at the chip level
Well if you are exclusively using GPUs that are general purpose, of course you leave so much efficiency on the table. That’s why Google started making TPUs more than a decade ago. I remember that kerfuffle when Google fired Timnit Gebru when Gebru’s paper used GPUs to calculate the environment impact of LLMs while ignoring the efficiency of TPUs; this basically made Jeff Dean very angry due to that wide efficiency gap.
That ... wasn't the kerfuffle
She wrote the stochastic parrots paper.
Google’s internal review blocked it from publication. Stated reasons were about paper quality. You can speculate whether that was the real reason.
Gebru issued an ultimatum email and said she would resign if some list of conditions weren’t met.
Google said “thanks, we accept your resignation”.
She claims it is retaliation, but it seems more like an own-goal if you ask me. She basically handed Google the solution to their problem.
Practical lesson: don’t tell your employer you might quit before you’re ok with leaving.
It kind of was. I really hate gaslighting, but GP is not inaccurate. Google claimed it did not meet their bar for publication because it ignored recent research on how to reduce the environmental and bias-related risks of LLMs. On the other hand, a large org is unlikely to subsidize high-profile research that makes it look bad. And Gebru was critical of Google’s internal culture and diversity efforts…