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Timnit Gebru, AI researcher.
Kimberly White | Getty Images
Timnit Gebru, well-known artificial intelligence researcher at Google, tweeted wednesday that the company suddenly fired her, drawing numerous statements of support from other Google employees and technicians in the industry.
Gebru, who was the technical co-director of the Ethical AI team at Google and worked on algorithmic bias and data mining, is a well-known advocate for diversity in technology and is the co-founder of a community of black researchers called Black in AI. She sharply criticized the treatment of black workers by tech companies and tweeted veiled reviews about his employer earlier today.
Gebru claims to have received a termination email written by someone named Megan who reports to IA Director Jeff Dean. She said the email indicated that management had expedited her departure due to an email she sent to women and “allies” within Google Brain, the intelligence research team. deep learning machine from Google earlier in the week.
Gebru said her main business account was cut off while she was on vacation. “I hadn’t quit – I asked for simple terms first and said I would respond when I got back from vacation,” Gebru tweeted.
Google declined to comment.
The email Gebru sent to his colleagues, according to a report by Casey Newton, said superiors suddenly asked him to remove a research paper while presenting almost no information on what was wrong or on the chances of defending yourself. In her email, she suggests this incident is part of a larger model at Google of making lip-service statements about diversity without making any real changes, adding, “There’s no way more than documents or more conversations lead to anything. “
The email she claims to have received from Google, which CNBC has yet to confirm, apparently reads:
“Thank you for clarifying your terms. We cannot accept numbers 1 and 2 as you request.” (Gebru has not publicly detailed what those terms were.) We respect your decision to leave Google as a result, and we accept your resignation. However, we believe that the end of your job should come faster than your email reflects, as some aspects of the email you sent last night to non-management employees at the think tank reflect behavior. incompatible with the expectations of a Google manager. “
“Therefore, we accept your resignation immediately, effective today. We will send your final paycheck to your address in Workday. When you return from vacation, PeopleOps will contact you to coordinate the return of Google devices and assets. . “
Born and raised in Ethiopia, Gebru studied electrical engineering at Stanford before joining Apple, where she worked on the first iPad, then Microsoft. Gebru is well known for her work on racial and gender bias in facial recognition systems. In 2018, Gebru and MIT computer scientist Joy Buolamwini co-authored a landmark research paper showing that IBM’s and Microsoft’s facial recognition systems were much worse when it came to identifying people at home. darker skin. Google AI director Jeff Dean congratulated her publicly on social media.
Several past and present Google employees – as well as tech workers across the industry – have taken to Twitter to express their support for Gebru and highlight the irony of firing an ethics leader in this manner.
“I thought it was a joke because it seemed ridiculous that anyone firing @timnitGebru given their expertise, skills, influence,” the former Reddit CEO wrote. Ellen pao on Twitter. “This is one of the many times that I think there is just no hope for the tech industry.”
Kate devlin, an AI researcher at King’s College London, said on Twitter: “This is horrible. @timnitGebru is one of the best voices in AI ethics. It’s a painful irony what his employer, Google, makes it fishy as hell. “
Gebru tweeted that she was now looking for a lawyer specializing in employment law.
The latest controversy follows a complaint filed Wednesday by the National Labor Relations Board that accuses Google of spying on employees, preventing employees from sharing their work grievances and retaliation.
Now watch: Google employees stage global walkout, demand accountability
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