Two Members Of Google Ethical AI Research Group Left The Company

According to Engadget (via Bloomberg), researcher Alex Hanna and software engineer Dylan Baker had left Google. They were prominent members of Google Ethical AI research group and will join Timnit Gebru’s Distributed AI Research Institute.

Over the past few years, the issue of key members leaving Google has been controversial for the company. Last year, Timnit Gebru, a key person in AI ethics research, left Google. Gebru has now founded a nonprofit, and Hanna and Baker are joining him. They told Bloomberg that they could not cope with Google’s dismissals and preferred to continue working with Gebru.

Google actually fired Gebru. He published a letter that Google did not like, and the company fired him on the grounds that he did not have the necessary permission to publish the letter. However, Gebru is not the only fired member of the group. The company has also fired Margaret Mitchell, co-leader of the Ethical AI research group.

Dates back to November, former Google’s AI researcher Meredith Whittaker joined FTC as senior advisor on artificial intelligence.

Racism has seemingly become a problem in Google

Alex Hanna has released a letter on her Medium account, saying, “I am quitting because I’m tired.” In this letter, she addresses the issue of racism in technology companies. “In a word, tech has a whiteness problem. Google is not just a tech organization. Google is a white tech organization. Meta is a white tech organization. So are Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and others are announced in the same breath when we discuss the “techlash.” Hanna noted.

Hanna has also addressed the issue of Gebru’s dismissal. She says Jeff Dean, the head of Google Research, fired Gebru because his letter did not go through the proper publication approval process.

According to Hanna and Baker, Google has been less listening to its employees in recent years. They also cite Google’s contracts with the Pentagon.

Of course, Google has also responded to the recent case. A Google spokesperson told Engadget that “we appreciate Alex and Dylan’s contributions — our research on responsible AI is incredibly important, and we’re continuing to expand our work in this area in keeping with our AI Principles.”