I went to AITP for the first time last September, and I found it an absolute pleasure. Everyone was kind and wonderful and open-minded. The venue was wonderful too. Highly recommended if you're interested at any point.
BTW what you say about the sadly common assumption Timnit and other AI ethics folks don't have "real contributions" is too real. It has impacted me even though my work isn't on AI ethics at all, just because I bother to talk about it online in public sometimes. Similarly for any social justice work or any work improving the work environment in research. It is like some people cannot comprehend that one can be technically proficient and still care about social justice and ethics and other "soft" issues. I love how confused those people are when they learn my expertise is in formal logic and proof haha
It's lack of training I think. A good engineer should think about the consequences of her actions. People in the industry, it seems, just don't. Very disappointing.
