Google AI ethicist says she was fired for email, 1,400 Googlers sign letter supporting her

Timnit Gebru, co-head of Google’s ethical artificial intelligence team, said Wednesday evening that she was abruptly fired from the search giant for an email she sent to her colleagues.

Gebru, an eminent AI researcher, has conducted studies on the dangers of facial recognition bias and commented on the lack of diversity in the tech industry. Following his departure, more than 1,400 Google employees, as well as more than 1,800 other professionals in the sector, signed an open letter in favor of Gebru.

“Instead of being embraced by Google as an exceptionally talented and prolific contributor, Dr Gebru has been faced with defensiveness, racism, gaslighting, research censorship and now retaliatory dismissal,” reads -on in the letter.

In one series of tweets On Wednesday evening, Gebru said she was fired for a message she sent to Google Brain Women and Allies, an internal company mailing list. After sending the email, Gebru said she received a note from her manager telling her that the message was “incompatible with the expectations of a Google manager”.

I was fired by @JeffDean for my email to Women and Brain Allies. My corporate account has been cut. So I was immediately fired 🙂

– Timnit Gebru (@timnitGebru) December 3, 2020

Gebru has not publicly shared the contents of his initial email to the Brain group. But the email reportedly criticized Google’s diversity, equity and inclusion operation for its lack of accountability, according to Platformer, who posted the post. “So if you want to change things, I suggest you focus on the responsibility of leadership and think about the kinds of pressures that can be applied from outside as well,” Gebru wrote.

In the email, Gebru said she was working on a research paper with colleagues when asked abruptly to withdraw it without an explanation. Gebru said on Twitter that she emailed her manager the research paper, apparently giving the company a list of demands to satisfy. She said she didn’t quit, but that her manager emailed Gebru’s direct reports to tell her that she “accepted my resignation”. After that, Gebru said his corporate email account was closed.

In an email to employees Thursday, first published by Platformer, Google chief AI officer Jeff Dean said that one of Gebru’s requests was to identify every person Dean and the manager de Gebru were consulting as part of the document review process. He also urged employees to continue working with Google’s diversity programs. “I also feel bad that hundreds of you received an email this week from Timnit asking you to stop working on critical DCI programs,” Dean wrote. “Please don’t.”

Gebru did not respond to a request for comment. Google declined to comment beyond Dean’s email.

After Gebru said on Wednesday she had been fired, former Google employees began tweeting “I support @timnitGebru”.

The incident with Gebru comes after Google has already drawn strong criticism for its handling of work issues. On the same day as Gebru’s tweets, Google was accused by the US labor council of retaliation against workers who staged protests against the search giant. In a complaint from the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency said Google violated U.S. labor laws by monitoring, questioning and firing militant employees.

Over the past few years, Google has faced an uproar over uprisings in its workforce. Grassroots workers have spoken out against the company’s work in China, its contracts with the U.S. military and Google’s handling of allegations of sexual misconduct against senior executives.

Gebru’s exit also drew negative reactions from critics already concerned about Google’s ethical AI work. When Google convened an AI ethics committee last year, the company faced criticism last year for who was chosen to serve on the panel. One member, Kay Cole James of the Heritage Foundation, has been accused of being anti-immigrant and homophobic. The council was dissolved a little over a week after it was announced.