Censorship Allegations
One of Google’s top AI ethicists says she’s out at the company — in part, she says, because the tech giant was censoring her research.
OneZero reports that Timnit Gebru, who had been the technical co-lead of Google’s Ethical Artificial Intelligence Team, says her employment was abruptly cut off — along with her access to her company email address — after a tense email exchange.
Gebru is known for influential research into racial bias in AI algorithms. Most recently, she’s been working at Google in a research position, exploring ethical implications of AI technologies.
Story So Far
But it now sounds like her experience at the search giant has been fraught. In an email obtained by Casey Newton’s new publication Platformer, Gebru told an internal listserv about a saga in which she had circulated a new research paper coauthored with a number of other Google employees — its precise topic remains unclear, though it appears to have to do with language models — to a large group of research peers.
Then, she wrote in the email, she was surprised when her “manager’s manager” told her that she needed to retract the paper.
According to a second email, also obtained by Platformer and sent by head of Google research Jeff Dean, Gebru then said that she would resign unless a list of conditions were met. In his email, Dean also pushed back against elements of Gebru’s narrative. For instance, he said that she only gave internal Google reviewers one day to read the paper, instead of the customary two weeks.
Gebru’s manager, she said on Twitter, subsequently told her that the company couldn’t meet her conditions — and would have to let her go immediately. Google instantly cut off access to her company email account, Gebru told OneZero.
Several of Gebru’s recent tweets suggest that she’s seeking legal recourse. In one message last Monday — before her termination — she inquired about legal protections for whistleblowers among AI researchers. And on Wednesday, she tweeted that she was looking for legal representation.
First and foremost I need an employment lawyer ASAP.
— Timnit Gebru (@timnitGebru) December 3, 2020
READ MORE: Noted A.I. Ethicist Timnit Gebru Let Go From Google Following Tense Email Exchange [OneZero]
More on Google: Three Signs Google Is Turning to the Dark Side
The post Google Ousts Top AI Ethicist appeared first on Futurism.
Visit link:
Google Ousts Top AI Ethicist
- Futurist Serata featuring artist Luca Buvoli at Brown (Nov. 20) - November 7th, 2009 [November 7th, 2009]
- FUTUR1SM00GGI - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- ‘Futurism on Film’ Series this month in NYC - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Schedule of Futurist Events in NYC (PERFORMA 09: Nov 1-22) - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- ‘Futurismo/Futurizm: The Futurist Avant-Garde in Italy and Russia’ (Nov. 13 + 14) - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- ‘Beyond Futurism: F.T. Marinetti, Writer’ conference at Columbia (Nov. 12+13) - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Futurism and Cars at the Museo Nicolis - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- MoMA Film Series Marks Centenary of Futurism with Films - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- ‘Bergson+Futurism. Speed in thought’ - Madrid (Nov. 5) - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- ‘The Future in Five Senses: Echoes of Italian Futurism in New York Architecture and Design’ Nov. 16th NYC - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- New World-Wide Climate Treaty in 2010 More Likely - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Tar Sands CCS Myth Shattered - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Smart Grid and Smart Meters Get Big Grants - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Pollution Makes Methane Even More Dangerous - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Climate Change Bill Hearing Video - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- New Satellite to Monitor Water and Plant Growth - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Spiritual Battle Awaits the Deniers and Skeptics - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Effects of Climate Change are Observed World-Wide - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Get Yer Global Warming Science Here - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- TckTckTck Wake up Call — Delay Kills - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Canada’s Awful Gold Rush - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Climate Change Talks Spark Global Backlash by Businesses - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- World May Need Extra Year for Climate Treaty - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Senator Boxer Moves Climate Bill Despite Republican Obstructionism - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Lights out for incandescent lights? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Sutures from Bacteria - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Remote-Controlled Pigeons - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Apple Announces iPhone Release Date - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- UK Government Envisions a Grim Future - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Top Ten Emerging Technologies for the Environment - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- DIY Mobile Networks - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Stem-Cell Treatment Cures Type 1 Diabetes - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Is Tesla Getting the Electric Car Right? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Future of TV News - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Bruce Sterling on Earth-Friendly Pervasive Computing - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- First Step Toward Organ Regeneration in Humans - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- IBM's "Five in Five" - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Outsourced Journalism - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Is True Global Democracy the Next Great Political Movement? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Risks of Autonomous Robots - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Microsoft Introduces "Tabletop" PC - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Britain Piloting First Biofueled Train - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Self-Healing Plastic - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Bird Population Falls Over Past 40 Years - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The iPhone Revolution? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The End of "Cheap Food"? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- How to Stop -- Or Live With -- Global Warming - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- MIT Demonstrates "Wireless Electricity" - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Unintended Consequences of Biofuels - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Time to Focus on the Big Picture in Copenhagen - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- Protests in Copenhagen - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- Mario Guido Dal Monte exhibit - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Futurism News Bulletin, xvi - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Viva il Futurismo! (video trailer) - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- 3 exhibits in Gorizia! - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Forthcoming: ‘Antidiets of the Avant-garde’ by Cecilia Novero - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Pubblicità e propaganda. Ceramica e grafica futuriste at the Wolfsoniana - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Balla’s home scheduled to open in 2010 - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Futurismo a Savona - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- ‘Zang Sud Sud’, Cosenza - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Conference in Rome (Dec. 10) - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Climate Hackergate: A Well-Orchestrated Campaign of Harassment - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- The Sad Story of Cap and Trade - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- How to Waste Trillions on Capturing Carbon - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Smack the Email Hack Attack - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- EPA About to Declare CO2 a Public Danger - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Copenhagen Summit Starts with Virtually There Media - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Climate Scientist Gets Blunt on Trading Scheme - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- One Climate Change Editorial in 56 Newspapers, 45 Countries - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- This Decade Will be Hottest Ever on Record - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Divide and Conquer - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Leave the Coal in the Hole! - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- COP15: Two Agreements Coming - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Climate and Copenhagen News December 10 - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Sea Level Already Rising on Atlantic Coast - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- ‘Umbria Veloce’ in Perugia - December 14th, 2009 [December 14th, 2009]
- An Instable CO2-Filled Ocean - December 14th, 2009 [December 14th, 2009]
- ‘Futurismi a Ravenna’ opens Dec. 19 - December 15th, 2009 [December 15th, 2009]
- ‘Futurism and the Technological Imagination’ – 30% discount until Jan. 15 - December 15th, 2009 [December 15th, 2009]
- Protecting Our Lungs at Copenhagen - December 15th, 2009 [December 15th, 2009]