Google fires second AI ethics researcher following internal investigation



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Google fired Margaret Mitchell, co-leader of the AI ​​Ethics team, after using an automated script to scan her emails for evidence of discrimination against Timnit Gebru. The news was first reported by Axios.

Mitchell’s firing comes a day after Google announced a reorganization of its AI teams working on ethics and fairness. Marian Croak, vice president of the engineering organization, now heads “a new center of expertise on responsible AI within Google Research,” according to a blog post.

The ethical AI team has been in turmoil since Gebru’s dismissal in early December. After yesterday’s announcement, senior researcher Alex Hanna wrote that the team were not aware of Croak’s appointment until news broke on Wednesday night. “We have been told to trust the process, to trust decision makers like Marian Croak to look out for our best interests,” she said on Twitter. “But these decisions were made behind our backs.”

“After reviewing the conduct of this official, we confirmed that there had been multiple violations of our code of conduct, as well as our security policies, which included the exfiltration of sensitive confidential documents and private data. ‘other employees,’ Google said in a statement to Axios about Mitchell’s dismissal.

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