The firing of black researcher Timnit Gebru from Google's Ethical AI Team last year sparked controversy over racism e censorship, and left a dark mood at the company. Now it appears that Google is trying to fix things, appointing black executive Marian Croak to unify the company’s internal AI research team. But the decision doesn’t seem to have done much more than reignite the issue.
Understand the controversy over racism at Google
Gebru wrote a paper criticizing how Google was widely using a machine learning model in a way that could harm minorities if nothing was done to address the issue. The company demanded that Gebru retract the paper or remove the names of Google employees from it, or she would be fired. When the researcher wrote an internal email complaining about the company’s seemingly empty promises of greater diversity, she was terminated from Google.
At the time, hundreds of Google employees and several academics wrote a open letter in support of Gebru. One of the researcher’s supporters is Margaret Mitchell, founder and leader of the company’s Ethical AI Team, who was fired from Google last month and had her corporate account access revoked. Mitchell was researching examples of Google’s misconduct toward Gebru.
Margaret Mitchell and Timnit Gebru took a stand on Twitter
Through her personal Twitter account, Mitchell said she only learned of Croak's nomination from a Bloomberg story, and that "it feels like I've been completely erased and my team taken away from me."
…And this is how I found out. I'm so glad for all the trust they've rebuilt. It seems I've been completely erased and my team taken.https://t.co/1BTGOo5Wry
— MMitchell (@mmitchell_ai) February 18, 2021
Gebru wrote on Twitter: “I have a lot to say about this later. But announcing a new Black female leader, as if we are all interchangeable, while harassing, terrorizing, and gaslighting my team, and doing ZERO to acknowledge and repair the harm done, is beyond gaslighting.” At the time of her departure, Google said it was Gebru who resigned from the company.
I will have a lot more to say about this later. But announcing a new org by a Black woman as if we're all interchangeable while harassing, terrorizing and gaslighting my team and doing absolutely ZERO to acknowledge & redress the harm that's been done is beyond gaslighting. https://t.co/cMtHqCte4e
- @[email protected] on Mastodon (@timnitGebru) February 18, 2021
April Christina Curley, another Gebru advocate and a former Google diversity recruiter, tweeted: “I’m so sorry, Timnit. Google just wants to physically run over us and tire us out until we break.” Curley already said who was fired from the company because “they got tired of hearing me exposing their racist bullshit.”
I'm so, so sorry Timnit. This shit is getting out of hand. Google wants nothing more than to physically run us down and exhaust us to the point of breaking. I refuse.. and I got ya back sis.. https://t.co/FFCT649bEd
— Real Abril🌈 (@RealAbril) February 18, 2021
Meanwhile, Croak, the new leader of Google’s AI team, said she wants to find a diplomatic way out of the whole racism-AI controversy. “There’s a lot of conflict in the field right now, and things can get polarized. What I want is for people to have this conversation more diplomatically than they are now, so we can really move this field forward,” she said. in a post on the Google blog.
Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. Android Central
Image: Paweł Czerwiński (Unsplash)