Gender, Race and Power Outlining a New AI Research Agenda

The recent walkout protesting Google’s history of harassment and discrimination was a landmark moment for tech and labor organizing. Collective action by 20,000 Google workers in 50 cities around the world pushed the company to end the forced arbitration of sexual harassment cases. While this is a remarkable success, the majority of the workers’ demands have not yet been met.

Much of the media coverage about the walkout has focused on sexual harassment of women. But the issues go even further. The Google workers argued that sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace are not only about gender and sexuality, but are interconnected with other forms of racialized discrimination that point to entrenched abuses of power.