Google AI chief apologizes for dismissal of top researcher as company announces new diversity policies

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Google’s head of artificial intelligence (AI) has apologized for his dismissal Timnit Gebru, one of its top researchers as the company announced new diversity policies.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., sent an email to employees on Friday outlining the new changes, a person familiar with the situation said. Bloomberg news. In an e-mail obtained by the press, the head of Google’s AI, Jeff Dean, apologized for managing Gebru’s exit.

The email was the first reported by Axios.

“I understand that we could and should have handled the situation more sensitively,” Dean wrote in an e-mail, according to Bloomberg. “And for that, I’m sorry.”

Dean acknowledged that Google’s management of Gebru harmed female and black employees and led them to wonder if they belonged. However, Dean did not apologize directly to Gebru in the email.

Hill contacted Google for comments.

The changes come after Pichai said in December that he would review the process that led to Gebru’s dismissal.

Gebru, who co-leads Google’s AI ethics team, she claimed she was fired through an e-mail questioning the censorship of a research paper on the environmental and ethical implications of large-scale AI models.

At the time, Dean dismissed the notion that she had been fired and distributed an email saying the company had accepted her resignation. Thousands of employees signed a petition demanding transparency about her departure.

Pichai’s email on Friday did not acknowledge what the analysis found, but detailed several changes in the way it handles employee research and outflows, according to Axios.

Gebru expressed his dissatisfaction with the situation on Twitter on Friday.

“I didn’t expect anything more obvious,” Gebru posted on Twitter. “I write an e-mail asking for things, I’m fired and then, after a 3-month investigation, I say I should probably do some of the things I was probably fired for asking, without holding anyone accountable. for their actions. “

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