As Google Fires Second AI Ethics Researcher, Dispute Over Diversity Grows
The two researchers had called for greater diversity and inclusion among Google s research staff and expressed concern that the firm was starting to censor papers critical of its products.
Representative Image. A Google logo is shown at one of the company s office complexes in Irvine, California on July 27, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Mike Blake
World20/Feb/2021
Alphabet Inc’s Google fired staff scientist Margaret Mitchell on Friday, they both said, a move that fanned company divisions on academic freedom and diversity that were on display since its December dismissal of AI ethics researcher Timnit Gebru.
Google's ethics in artificial intelligence work has been under scrutiny since the firing of Gebru, a scientist who gained prominence for exposing bias in facial analysis systems. The dismissal prompted thousands of Google workers to protest.
The Alphabet company terminated Meg Mitchell who co-headed the Ethical Artificial Intelligence team, following the dismissal of her former colleague Timnit Gebru
Google fires researcher Meg Mitchell, escalating AI saga
Google is trying to move past the disarray in its AI division, but on Friday the upheaval showed no sign of letting up.
(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
Bloomberg
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Google fired the lead of its Ethical Artificial Intelligence team, Meg Mitchell, escalating the turmoil surrounding its AI division after the acrimonious exit of Mitchell’s former colleague Timnit Gebru.
“I’m fired,” Mitchell tweeted Friday, a minute after saying she was “in too much pain to articulate much of anything useful. Firing @timnitGebru created a domino effect of trauma for me and the rest of the team, and I believe we are being increasingly punished for that trauma.”
Google has fired Margaret Mitchell, another top AI ethics researcher and leader, months after dismissing Timnit Gebru. Google said in a statement that Mitchell violated the company s code of conduct and security policies by moving electronic files outside the company.