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The Alphabet Workers’ Union, recently formed by a Google employee, has expressed concern about Google’s decision to lock senior AI ethics researcher Margaret Mitchell from her account.
Google locked it down after discovering it was downloading material related to Timnit Gebru, another AI ethics researcher who was forced to leave the company last month.
The news was first reported on Wednesday by Axios, which said Google was investigating Mitchell’s recent actions. Mitchell allegedly used automated scripts to scan his messages and find examples of Gebru’s discriminatory treatment.
“The Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) is concerned about the suspension of corporate access for Margaret Mitchell, AWU member and leader of the Ethical AI team,” the union said in a statement. . “This suspension follows Google’s dismissal of former co-director Timnit Gebru. Together, this is an attack on the people who are trying to make Google’s technology more ethical.”
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC, but a spokesperson told Axios: “Our security systems automatically lock an employee’s corporate account when they detect that the account is at risk. ‘be compromised due to identification issues or when an automated rule involving the processing of sensitive data has been triggered. “
The spokesperson added: “In this case, our systems detected yesterday that an account had exfiltrated thousands of files and shared them with several external accounts. We explained this to the employee earlier today. . “
The departure of Gebru
Gebru, who had been the technical co-lead of Google’s AI ethics team, tweeted on December 3 that Google fired her over a disagreement over a research paper that examined biases around artificial intelligence. The researcher, who had been frank about the company’s treatment of black employees, said the treatment was indicative of a larger model at Google. This has led to a surge of support from across the industry, including a petition signed by thousands of Google employees and industry peers.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai sent employees an email apologizing for the mistrust sown in the company and industry at the time of Gebru’s departure, while promising the company would launch a “Review” of what was wrong.
About a week later, Google’s artificial intelligence team sent Google executives a list of demands to “restore trust” after Gebru’s withdrawal from the company.
The team, which says it provides advice on research, products and policies, wrote a six-page letter to Pichai, AI chief Jeff Dean, and vice president of engineering Megan Kacholia. The letter, titled “The Future of Ethical AI at Google Research” and seen by CNBC, lists executive demands, including removing Kacholia from the group’s hierarchical structure, refraining from retaliation and reinstating Gebru at a higher level.
Who is Margaret Mitchell?
Mitchell founded the Ethical AI team at Google and is one of the co-directors. AWU has described her as a “critical member” of the academic and industrial communities around the ethical production of AI. She has worked at Google for just over four years and is based in Seattle, according to LinkedIn.
“Regardless of the outcome of the company’s investigation, the continued targeting of executives in this organization calls into question Google’s commitment to ethics – in AI and in their business practices,” he said. said the AWU. “Many of the AI ethics team are members of the AWU and members of our union recognize the crucial work they are doing and stand in solidarity with them at this time.”
Referring to Google’s statement to Axios, the AWU said it marked a “notable departure from Google’s typical practice of refusing to comment on personnel matters.”
The AWU announced its launch on January 4. Executive Chairman Parul Koul and Vice Chairman Chewy Shaw co-authored a New York Times article titled: “We Built Google. It’s Not The Company We Want To Work For.”
He took his first stand on January 7, calling on YouTube executives to take stronger action against former President Donald Trump.
The union criticized Google-owned YouTube for not banning Trump’s account from the platform after the pro-Trump riots in Washington that left five dead and dozens injured. The group called the company’s decision to reactively remove its videos “lackluster” and said the company should ban its account.
– Additional reporting by Jennifer Elias of CNBC.
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