Google fired Mitchell, the lead researcher, in a controversy in February.
New York:
Google confirmed on Tuesday that a leader of its artificial intelligence team resigned in a departure following the controversial dispute between two colleagues.
The internet giant declined to comment further on the resignation of Samy Bengio, who worked at Google for about four years and specialized in machine learning.
“While I look forward to my next challenge, there is no doubt that leaving this wonderful team is really difficult,” Bengio wrote in a working email quoted for the first time by Bloomberg.
Bengio did not refer to Timnit Gebru or Margaret Mitchell, two former team members focused on ethical artificial intelligence.
Google fired Mitchell, a lead researcher, in February following controversy over the technology giant’s removal of Gebru, an outspoken diversity advocate.
Bengio expressed his solidarity with Gebru in a message distributed on Facebook that remained active on Tuesday.
“I have been and will always remain a strong supporter of his scientific work to ensure that AI becomes a positive force for the minority, as well as his generosity and tireless actions to raise the voices of the silent,” Bengio said of Gebru in the post. .
Mitchell downloaded and distributed company documents, according to a Google statement earlier this year to Axios, which reported that it was an effort to show discrimination in the treatment of Gebru, who was fired last year.
In December, more than 1,400 Google employees asked the company to explain why it fired Gebru.
“It’s sad to see this happen to the only director of the research body who was doing the right thing,” Gebru said of Bengio on Twitter.
Mitchell used Twitter to thank Bengio for supporting her and Gebru and providing them with an inclusive environment.
“But once you ‘see’ sexism and racism, staying with an organization that stands by it becomes unbearable,” Mitchell said in a tweet, predicting that several members of his former Google team would quit.
“There’s a strong interest in responsible / ethical AI outside of Google, so the people I’ve worked with have a lot of options.”
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and is published in a syndicated stream.)