The world knows about tech’s love affair with, and misuse of, personal data. The continual ignoring, minimizing and excusing of hate speech, revenge porn, fake news, bullying, etc.
Then there is its totally irrational attitude/belief that people will be kind and good to each other online no matter what they are like in the real world.
Given the prevailing attitude, would a hot tech startup have a conscience?
So would a founder, a self-described “technology enthusiast,” create an AI app that went viral and then shut it down because of the way it was being used?
DeepNude was built on Pix2Pix, an open-source algorithm used for “image-to-image translation.” the app can create a naked image from any picture of a woman with just a couple of clicks. Revenge porn activists said the app was “absolutely terrifying.”
As to the above question, the answer is “yes.”
The DeepNude team was horrified, believing “the probability that people will misuse it is too high.”
“We don’t want to make money this way. Surely some copies of DeepNude will be shared on the web, but we don’t want to be the ones who sell it,” DeepNude wrote in a tweet. “The world is not yet ready for DeepNude.”
Pix2Pix was developed by a team of scientists, who now believe the industry needs to do better and not just release their work to the world at large.
“We have seen some wonderful uses of our work, by doctors, artists, cartographers, musicians, and more,” the MIT professor Phillip Isola, who helped create Pix2Pix, told Business Insider in an email. “We as a scientific community should engage in serious discussion on how best to move our field forward while putting reasonable safeguards in place to better ensure that we can benefit from the positive use-cases while mitigating abuse.”
One can only hope that the scientific community does, indeed, find a way to do good while avoiding the worst of the negative fallout from discoveries.
And hats off to the DeepNude team.
It’s really inspiring to see such a concrete example of doing the right thing, with no shilly-shallying or dancing around the decision.
But I do wonder what would have happened if either the developers or the scientists were beholden to investors.
Originally this post was written for and about founders, but it is applicable to bosses everywhere, no matter the size or age of their company.
However, if one chooses to revisit a post from the past one must admit one’s errors — especially the glaringly obvious ones.
I wrote that “tolerance for bullying may be waning,” which, based on what has happened in the intervening five years was clearly off the mark.
What does seem to have happened is the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” mindset has gained more followers, which is a sad commentary.
What hasn’t changed is that, sooner or later, believing your own hype will cost your company talent — or worse.
Bosses are known for the passion and drive that turns their vision into reality. While many are known for their technical brilliance or marketing expertise, fewer are known for their management skill.
Many harbor a secret dream of being hailed as the next Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Anna Wintour, Barry Diller or Martha Stewart.
If those names impress you then consider that they all are in Forbes Bully Bosses Hall of Fame (personally, I’d have included Jack Welch).
“At some point, those we consider ‘visionaries’ become puffed-up creations of their own imagination. When business executives stop looking beyond quarterly reports and stockholder dividends, they start ignoring internal stakeholders. We’re seeing that unravel now.” —Gary Namie, management consultant
American tolerance for bullying leaders may be waning.
There has been a real sea change in what’s conceptualized as good leadership. Americans have become disenchanted with power. Almost daily, they watch as leaders–in government, in business–fail to exercise appropriate restraint.” –Roderick Kramer, Stanford Business School professor.
In four decades I never spoke with anyone who liked being bullied and have watched tolerance for it seep away.
These days people vote with their feet; the question is not ‘should I leave’, but ‘how soon can I leave’.
The focus is how quickly someone can find a position that combines personal satisfaction with the ability to take care of their responsibilities.
Good management/leadership isn’t just about killer visions.
It’s about enabling growth by building up and never tearing down either the people or the enterprise for which you are responsible.
In short, take care of your people; without them there is no company.
They are arguing about whether they should have to agree to a community code of conduct (CCoC) that requires them to behave respectfully. (…) That code of conduct basically says that the group is open to people of all walks of life and expects its members to be courteous.
In this context courteous probably means you don’t act like a troll — screaming, cursing, intimidating, harassing, etc — online or real world.
There is nothing that says you have to agree.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how to disagree without being a troll.
It’s also possible to have passionate arguments over a subject that include yelling and profanity directed at the subject/opinion, as opposed to the person.
It’s the difference between
That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard
and
You are really stupid to say that.
Further, online trolls don’t necessarily act the same in the real world — it’s easier to be a bully on a keyboard than face-to-face — although more and more do.
It’s actually amusing in a way, since every community of which one is a member has its own CCoC, whether written or inherent.
People abide by them, because, by and large, they agree with them.
Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.
Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.
Have you ever thought about what makes a great comic? By and large they are timeless, because their subject is people and human emotions and actions are (often unfortunately) steady through time. This is especially true when it comes to bad management as witnessed by the continued popularity of Born Loser, Dilbert and many others.
Does your newspaper carry The Born Loser by Chip Sansom? Actually, I don’t find Brutus, the main character, to be a loser—just a slightly naive guy who works for an arrogant bully who constantly belittles him.
In the July 26, 2007 panel the dialog is as follows:
Boss: I am looking for a unique spin to put on our new ad campaign—do you have any ideas?
Brutus: Gee, Chief, I’m not sure—are there any ideas you think I should think of?
Boss: Brutus Thornapple, master of thinking inside the box.
it reminded me of managers I’ve known, who, no matter what happened or what feedback they received, never could understand that it was theirMAP and their actions, not their people’s, that was the root cause of their under-performing groups.
After all, if you
ask for input and ridicule those who offer it, why be surprised when you stop receiving input;
claim that you want to solve problems while they’re still molehills, yet kill the messengers who bring the news, you should expect to grapple with mountainous problems requiring substantially more resources;
tell people their ideas are stupid, whether directly or circumspectly, or, worse, that they are for thinking of them, why should they offer themselves up for another smack with the verbal two-by-four?
So, before you start ranting or whining about your group’s lack of initiative and innovation, try really listening to yourself and the feedback you get and then look in the mirror—chances are the real culprit will be looking straight back at you.
Whether you were alive in 1984 or not, you’ve probably seen Apple’s Super bowl ad. It’s reshown almost every year and has been consistently voted the top-rated Super Bowl ad ever made, which is saying a lot.
When the ad was made women were on an upward trend and were respected members of the tech community — unlike now.
Watching the ad again last week I got to wondering.
If that ad were made today would the person throwing the hammer be a woman?
Or would it be the proverbial “twenty-something guy in a hoodie?”
It’s amazing to me, but looking back over more than a decade of writing I find posts that still impress, with information that is as useful now as when it was written.
Golden Oldies is a collection of what I consider some of the best posts during that time.
I hate bullies. The biggest changes in the decade since I wrote this post are that there are more bullies, many using the anonymity of the internet to morph into trolls, more hand-wringing, that accomplishes nothing, and a rising tide less willing to be bullied that responds loudly and displays its disgust actively with its wit and its feet. Hopefully that tide will turn into a tsunami.
Does your newspaper carry The Born Loser by Chip Sansom? Actually, I don’t find Brutus, the main character, to be a loser—just a slightly naive guy who works for an arrogant bully who constantly belittles him.
In the July 26 panel the dialog is as follows:
Boss: I am looking for a unique spin to put on our new ad campaign—do you have any ideas?
Brutus: Gee, Chief, I’m not sure—are there any ideas you think I should think of?
Boss: Brutus Thornapple, master of thinking inside the box.
It reminded me of managers I’ve known, who, no matter what happened or what feedback they received, never could understand that it was theirMAP and their actions, not their people’s, that was the root cause of their under-performing groups.
After all, if you
ask for input and ridicule those who offer it, why be surprised when you stop receiving input;
claim that you want to solve problems while they’re still molehills, yet kill the messengers who bring the news, you should expect to grapple with mountainous problems requiring substantially more resources;
tell people their ideas are stupid, whether directly or circumspectly, or, worse, that they are for thinking of them, why should they offer themselves up for another smack with the verbal two-by-four?
So, before you start ranting or whining about your group’s lack of initiative and innovation, try really listening to yourself and the feedback you get and then look in the mirror—chances are the real culprit will be looking straight back at you.
The discussion was flowing until—yup. You guessed it.
But because this is the internet, a few trolls showed up, too, asking bizarre and rude sexist questions, some involving parts of the human body. A PR person from MIT forwarded the links to us [Business Insider], asking us to expose these trolls.
To everyone’s amazement, instead of leaving it to the crowd to vote the yucky comments down, Reddit stepped in.
But Reddit aims for these AMAs to be respectful. Reddit’s policy is that it will remove comments that are “abusive or harassing” as well as “comments where there would be no possibility of a real answer, especially where it is deliberately creepy or offensive.”
Reddit exemplifies the anything goes/no censorship/trust the crowd to police itself internet.
One has to wonder if this is a sign that people have had enough, that anonymous hate and bullying are finally falling out of favor — at least a little bit.
How do you feel when you see or hear about a boss who bully his people—even if it isn’t your boss?
New research shows that the effects are similar whether the bullying is direct or second hand.
I read about the research last month on Dan McCarthy’s Great Leadership blog. He does a great job of summarizing the study, including quotes from it. (The full study must be purchased.)
Like second hand smoke, second hand bullying destroys and even kills—not the body, but the spirit.
“When vicarious abusive supervision is present, employees realize that the organization is allowing this negative treatment to exist, even if they are not experiencing it directly,” the researchers said.
“It documents the elevated risk across a wide range of mental health outcomes and over a long period of time,” said Catherine Bradshaw, an expert on bullying and a deputy director of the Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence at Johns Hopkins University, which was not involved in the study. “The experience of bullying in childhood can have profound effects on mental health in adulthood, particularly among youths involved in bullying as both a perpetuator and a victim.”
And running into past bullies, even after 25 years, can cause anxiety and lead to questions about how to act.
I’ve written previously regarding the serious disengagement caused by a bullying culture and about bosses who aren’t role models. Most managers assume that firing the bully fixes things, but these studies prove that isn’t the case and the termination certainly doesn’t rebuild trust in an organization that allowed it in the first place.
Bullying isn’t always obvious and may even resemble coaching at first glance, so it’s wise to take a second look and occasionally revisit the players just to be sure.
Obviously, it’s best to nip bullying in the bud and doing that takes vigilance—vigilance and the courage to act, whether it’s in your own organization or not.
That’s part of the job description for bosses at every level.
A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read allIf the Shoe Fits posts here
Founders are known for the passion and drive that turns their vision into reality. While many are known for their technical brilliance or marketing expertise few are known for their management skill.
Many harbor a secret dream of being hailed as the next Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Anna Wintour, Barry Diller or Martha Stewart.
If those names impress you then consider that they all are in Forbes Bully Bosses Hall of Fame (personally, I’d have included Jack Welch).
“At some point, those we consider ‘visionaries’ become puffed-up creations of their own imagination. When business executives stop looking beyond quarterly reports and stockholder dividends, they start ignoring internal stakeholders. We’re seeing that unravel now.” —Gary Namie, management consultant
American tolerance for bullying leaders may be waning.
There has been a real sea change in what’s conceptualized as good leadership. Americans have become disenchanted with power. Almost daily, they watch as leaders–in government, in business–fail to exercise appropriate restraint.” –Roderick Kramer, Stanford Business School professor.
In four decades I never spoke with anyone who liked being bullied and have watched tolerance for it slowly seep away.
These days people vote with their feet; the question is not ‘should I leave’, but ‘how soon can I leave’.
The focus is how quickly someone can find a position that combines personal satisfaction with the ability to take care of their responsibilities.
Good management/leadership isn’t just about killer visions.
It’s about enabling growth by building up and never tearing down either the people or the enterprise for which you are responsible.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
It’s amazing to me, but looking back over more than a decade of writing I find posts that still impress, with information that is as useful now as when it was written. 
Founders are known for the passion and drive that turns their vision into reality. While many are known for their technical brilliance or marketing expertise few are known for their management skill.
