There is a fluctuation in a person’s weight across the planet. If you travel to the Equator in countries like Kenya from the North Pole, your weight would be 0.5 percent less. This is due to the different effects of gravity at different places on Earth. And this difference occurs due to the bulge that Earth has at the equator. This bulge was formed as a result of the planet’s spinning on its axis. While the spin affects you, pushing you ever so slightly outwards and diminishing the gravitational effect, the shape has a more pronounced and visible impact. The distance from the mass affects the intensity of gravity that is exerted on you. The difference in weight is very slight, yet intriguing, it can also be felt on an airplane.

So, if you are at the north pole, near the Earth’s mass, you would be more affected by it, thereby weighing more. Accordingly, at the equator, you are away from the Earth’s mass bulk, so less gravitational force is in action, be it through you or on you. When you are flying, your weight up in the air reduces. As you are farther from the planet’s usual gravitational pull, it is weaker. If you want to see exactly how much you weigh at different points on Earth, travel and see the variations. Wherever you go, don’t go weighing yourself at the North Pole as there you might weigh more!

Google employees who worked with Timnit Gebru in the past are now coming out publicly to dispute various claims against the star AI ethics researcher. Recently, the team published a letter on Google Walkout Medium Account. They stated that Gebru was fired and did not resign as Google’s head of AI. This is the official information by Jeff Dean. They also stated that the review policy of the publication that Gebru was supposed to follow was applied “discriminatorily and unevenly.”

The Letter on the Google Walkout Medium Account

The letter reads that Dr. Gebru’s dismissal has been framed as a resignation. However, in Dr. Gebru’s own words, she did not resign. The letter also says that Gebru asked for various conditions to be met so she could stay at Google, including transparency around the individuals who wanted her paper retracted. The leaders of the ethical AI team said they were unable to meet these conditions and accepted her resignation.

The letter that led to Gebru’s resignation detailed potential risks associated with the big language processing models, including over-relying on data from many wealthy countries that have more access to the Internet.

Gebru was planning to present the paper at a computer science conference in March 2021, but on October 7th, she submitted it for review at Google. It was approved shortly after, on October 8th.

Dean said that the research team required two weeks for review; however, this specific paper was only shared with a day’s notice before its deadline.

The Battle Is Not Over

The story is far from over, though, as Gebru’s team is pushing back on this assessment. They say that the review policy is meant to be flexible, and most employees do not follow the structures laid out by Jeff Dean. The team collected data showing most approvals of the resignation happened before the deadline, and 41 percent happened after the deadline.

More than 1,500 employees are protesting against Gebru’s dismissal, signing a Google Walkout Petition.