The world-famous artificial intelligence conference, Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS), is considering a name change to promote diversity and inclusion. Is this well-placed sensitivity or just plain nonsense?
NIPS is a conference on machine learning and computational neuroscience held every December. The first NIPS was held in 1986, in California. Since then, it has been hosted all over the world. There were 5,000 attendees in 2016 and 8,000 in 2017. Everyone agrees that it is the largest artificial intelligence (AI) conference in the world. The 2018 edition will be held in Montreal from December 3 to 8.
Obviously, the field of artificial intelligence is no different from the rest of the techno world: people other than white males are a rarity there. NIPS is no exception. A Quartz article describes the 2017 edition: “Look at the set of computer scientists shaping the future of artificial intelligence and the first thing you’ll notice will be all those backpacks. […] Backpacks mark tribesmen, mostly men in their 20s and 30s.”
The acronym for the world’s largest AI gathering is NIPS. The term “nips” has a negative connotation in English for two reasons. It’s a racist expression for Japanese people, and a not exactly glorious diminutive for women’s breasts.
In 2017, the name of the conference began to be questioned, when a group of people created, in protest, the Transformationally Intelligent Technologies Symposium, whose acronym is TITS. The parody event was to be held at the same time as NIPS.
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In the wake of this false event, the discussion opened up about the need to change the name. In April, the official NIPS Twitter account posted this message: “In the context of diversity and anti-harassment policies, the NIPS board is currently discussing the possibility of changing the conference name. The first reason is the unfortunate connotation of the current name, which may invite unpleasant comments and make some attendees uncomfortable. The second reason is that the scope and role of the conference has changed over the years, and a new name might better reflect the reality of the industry.”
So, would it be a good thing or a bad thing for NIPS to change its name? Here’s what those in favor say:
- “It’s a positive step. It’s good to see that inclusion is being taken seriously.”
- “In the letter I sent, I asked for meaningful action to be associated with symbolic actions like this. I hope this symbolic movement means there’s movement on the other side too.”
- “It’s incredibly insensitive to name a conference using an ethnic slur.”
The name change is supported by influential people in artificial intelligence, such as Nando de Freitas, director of the machine learning team at DeepMind:
Here’s what those against the name change are saying:
- “It’s always been that name and nobody cared before!”
- “A name change comes so low on the list of priorities it’s almost insulting. Why not offer childcare or scholarships to invite minorities? These are the things that really make a difference!”
- “It’s great that the community is talking about awareness, but this name change won’t do anything.”
- “Changing the name is just the application of Parkinson’s law of triviality!”
[Note: Parkinson’s Law of Triviality claims that members of an organization give disproportionate weight to trivial matters, omitting what is more important and complex].
The NIPS Twitter account has not been updated since May. The final answer is still unknown.
On August 10, participants from the last five years received a questionnaire to gauge their opinion on new names. The name NIPS will no longer be used.
The question now is: will there be other changes in the direction of inclusivity?
Changing a name that offends a group of people we’re trying to reach and would like to see more present is a start. It can’t be an end in itself. It’s a cosmetic change.
What I want to see is parity on stage. Show me that there are as many women as men on the panel and I’ll applaud. The rest, like catering and location, can come later.
