Google will investigate what led to AI researcher’s exit, CEO says

The CEO of Google has apologized for how a prominent artificial intelligence researcher’s abrupt departure last week has “seeded doubts” in the company.

Sundar Pichai told Google employees in a Wednesday memo, obtained by Axios, that the tech company was beginning a review of the circumstances leading up to Timnit Gebru’s exit last week, and how Google could have “led a more respectful process”.

Gebru is a top scholar of AI ethics and one of the most prominent Black scientists in her field. She said she had been fired; Google has referred to it as a resignation.

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The dispute leading up to her departure concerned Google’s efforts to disassociate itself from a research paper that Gebru had co-authored, which examined the societal dangers of an AI technology used by Google. The paper contended that technology companies could do more to ensure AI systems aimed at mimicking human writing and speech did not exacerbate historical gender biases and use of offensive language, according to a draft copy seen by Reuters.

Gebru tweeted last week that she had been fired after sending an email to an internal group for women and allies working in the company’s AI unit. Her email referenced the disputed research paper but more broadly expressed frustration at Google’s diversity programs. In it, Gebru argued that “there is zero accountability” or real incentive for Google leadership to change.

Her departure has prompted widespread anger within the company. More than 1,200 Google employees signed a letter of protest last Friday, accusing Google of “unprecedented research censorship”, racism and defensiveness.

Meanwhile, a separate letter posted to Medium on Monday saw Gebru’s colleagues disputing the company’s account that she resigned.

“Dr Gebru did not resign, despite what Jeff Dean (Senior Vice President and head of Google Research), has publicly stated,” the letter read.

Pichai’s note does not call it a firing or a resignation but says: “We need to accept responsibility for the fact that a prominent Black, female leader with immense talent left Google unhappily.”

Gebru criticized Pichai’s memo on Wednesday on Twitter, saying she saw “no plans for accountability” in it and because it offered no apology for what happened to her.