Thousands petition Google for more answers on departed researcher
More than 2,000 Google employees and industry supporters are petitioning Google for answers on its firing of renown researcher Timnit Gebru.
Gebru, who claims she was terminated for conditional disagreements regarding one of her research papers, has been vocally critical of the company's treatment of research, diversity and inclusion efforts, and treatment of black employees.
Employees promptly took to Twitter, saying her managers' explanations didn't line up with their experiences.
© Provided by CNBC AI Research Scientist Timnit Gebru.
Employees from Google and other organizations are asking Google for answers about how it handled the departure of renown researcher Timnit Gebru in an online petition that had more than 2,000 signatures as of Friday afternoon.
Gebru, a well-known artificial intelligence researcher, technical co-lead of Google's "Ethical AI" team and vocal critic of tech companies' treatment of Black workers, tweeted Wednesday night that her corporate account had been abruptly shut off after she discussed potentially resigning over a disagreement about a research paper that scrutinized bias in artificial intelligence, which the company asked her to retract.
The company's AI chief, Jeff Dean, who had sung her praises publicly over the last several months, later told employees that he pulled the research paper because Gebru didn't follow protocol for the paper and that it "ignored too much relevant research." He fast-tracked her resignation because of an email she sent to an employee resource group, "Women and Allies," that criticized the company's leadership approach to research, as well as its diversity and inclusion efforts.
Employees promptly took to Twitter, saying Dean's explanations didn't line up with their experiences with research at Google and other organizations.
In the online petition titled "Standing with Dr. Timnit Gebru," which has signatures of more than 1,078 Google employees and 1,413 academic, industry, and civil society personnel, demands clarification on what led to Gebru's termination and research paper handling.
The organized petition shows Google's vocal workforce speaking out again about the company's handling of ethics and treatment of Black employees amid the company's dismal progress in diversity and inclusion efforts. Employees, have requested clarity, specificity and transparency when it comes to diversity efforts after the company made bold commitments in 2020. It also comes on the heels of a National Labor Board complaint filed this week, alleging the company retaliated against employees voicing their concerns about work conditions.
"Instead of being embraced by Google as an exceptionally talented and prolific contributor, Dr. Gebru has faced defensiveness, racism, gaslighting, research censorship, and now a retaliatory firing," the petition states.
The petition calls for Jeff Dean, Google Senior Fellow and Senior Vice-President of Research and Megan Kacholia, Vice-President of Engineering for the Google Brain organization, to explain to the public and to Google's Ethical AI team to explain the process by which Gebru's paper was "unilaterally rejected by leadership." It also asks for the company to provide clear guidelines on "how research will be reviewed and how research integrity will be respected."
"We call on Google Research to strengthen its commitment to research integrity and to unequivocally commit to supporting research that honors the commitments made in Google's AI Principles," the petition states. "Until December 2, Dr. Gebru was one of very few Black women Research Scientists at the company, which boasts a dismal 1.6% Black employees overall."
Signatures include other renowned researchers from universities including Stanford, Harvard, and MIT as well as leaders from other tech companies including product Inclusion specialists, scientists and researchers from Netflix, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.
"This is absolutely infuriating," tweeted President & Director-Counsel of NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Sherrilyn Ifill. "I am a huge fan and supporter of the work and uncompromising voice of @timnitGebru. I have learned so much from her about AI bias. What a disaster."
Google declined to comment on the petition and Gebru's departure, but pointed to a statement from Dean that touches on the company's review process for academic papers.
"Our aim is to rival peer-reviewed journals in terms of the rigor and thoughtfulness in how we review research before publication," Dean's statement read in part. "We're actively working on improving our paper review processes, because we know that too many checks and balances can become cumbersome. We will always prioritize ensuring our research is responsible and high-quality, but we're working to make the process as streamlined as we can so it's more of a pleasure doing research here."
Employees from Google and other organizations are asking Google for answers about how it handled the departure of renown researcher Timnit Gebru in an online petition that had more than 2,000 signatures as of Friday afternoon.
Gebru, a well-known artificial intelligence researcher, technical co-lead of Google's "Ethical AI" team and vocal critic of tech companies' treatment of Black workers, tweeted Wednesday night that her corporate account had been abruptly shut off after she discussed potentially resigning over a disagreement about a research paper that scrutinized bias in artificial intelligence, which the company asked her to retract.
The company's AI chief, Jeff Dean, who had sung her praises publicly over the last several months, later told employees that he pulled the research paper because Gebru didn't follow protocol for the paper and that it "ignored too much relevant research." He fast-tracked her resignation because of an email she sent to an employee resource group, "Women and Allies," that criticized the company's leadership approach to research, as well as its diversity and inclusion efforts.
Employees promptly took to Twitter, saying Dean's explanations didn't line up with their experiences with research at Google and other organizations.
In the online petition titled "Standing with Dr. Timnit Gebru," which has signatures of more than 1,078 Google employees and 1,413 academic, industry, and civil society personnel, demands clarification on what led to Gebru's termination and research paper handling.
The organized petition shows Google's vocal workforce speaking out again about the company's handling of ethics and treatment of Black employees amid the company's dismal progress in diversity and inclusion efforts. Employees, have requested clarity, specificity and transparency when it comes to diversity efforts after the company made bold commitments in 2020. It also comes on the heels of a National Labor Board complaint filed this week, alleging the company retaliated against employees voicing their concerns about work conditions.
"Instead of being embraced by Google as an exceptionally talented and prolific contributor, Dr. Gebru has faced defensiveness, racism, gaslighting, research censorship, and now a retaliatory firing," the petition states.
The petition calls for Jeff Dean, Google Senior Fellow and Senior Vice-President of Research and Megan Kacholia, Vice-President of Engineering for the Google Brain organization, to explain to the public and to Google's Ethical AI team to explain the process by which Gebru's paper was "unilaterally rejected by leadership." It also asks for the company to provide clear guidelines on "how research will be reviewed and how research integrity will be respected."
"We call on Google Research to strengthen its commitment to research integrity and to unequivocally commit to supporting research that honors the commitments made in Google's AI Principles," the petition states. "Until December 2, Dr. Gebru was one of very few Black women Research Scientists at the company, which boasts a dismal 1.6% Black employees overall."
Signatures include other renowned researchers from universities including Stanford, Harvard, and MIT as well as leaders from other tech companies including product Inclusion specialists, scientists and researchers from Netflix, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.
"This is absolutely infuriating," tweeted President & Director-Counsel of NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Sherrilyn Ifill. "I am a huge fan and supporter of the work and uncompromising voice of @timnitGebru. I have learned so much from her about AI bias. What a disaster."
Google declined to comment on the petition and Gebru's departure, but pointed to a statement from Dean that touches on the company's review process for academic papers.
"Our aim is to rival peer-reviewed journals in terms of the rigor and thoughtfulness in how we review research before publication," Dean's statement read in part. "We're actively working on improving our paper review processes, because we know that too many checks and balances can become cumbersome. We will always prioritize ensuring our research is responsible and high-quality, but we're working to make the process as streamlined as we can so it's more of a pleasure doing research here."
Renowned AI researcher says Google abruptly fired her, spurring industrywide criticism of the company
Timnit Gebru, an artificial intelligence researcher at Google, said on Thursday that she has been abruptly fired by Jeff Dean, Google's head of AI.
Timnit Gebru, an artificial intelligence researcher at Google, said on Thursday that she has been abruptly fired by Jeff Dean, Google's head of AI.
Gebru, who was the technical co-lead of the Ethical AI Team at Google, shared on Twitter what she claims is a dismissal email.
Gebru said she had made a number of requests and threatened to leave if they weren't met but didn't expect immediate termination.
© Provided by CNBC AI Research Scientist Timnit Gebru.
Timnit Gebru, a well-known artificial intelligence researcher at Google, tweeted on Wednesday that the company abruptly fired her, drawing widespread statements of support from other Google employees and tech workers throughout the industry.
Gebru, who was the technical co-lead of the Ethical AI Team at Google and worked on algorithmic bias and data mining, is a well-known advocate for diversity in technology and is the co-founder of a community of black researchers called Black in AI. She has been a vocal critic of tech companies' treatment of Black workers and had tweeted veiled criticism about her employer earlier that day.
Gebru claims she received a dismissal email written by someone named Megan who reports to AI head Jeff Dean. She said the email stated leadership fast-tracked her departure because of an email she sent to women and "Allies" within Google Brain, Google's deep learning artificial intelligence research team, earlier in the week.
Gebru said her main corporate account had been cut off while she was on vacation. "I hadn't resigned — I had asked for simple conditions first and said I would respond when I'm back from vacation," tweeted Gebru.
Google declined to comment.
The email Gebru sent to colleagues, according to a report by Casey Newton, stated that superiors suddenly asked her to retract a research paper while presenting almost no information about what was wrong with it or chances to defend herself. In her email, she suggests this incident is part of a larger pattern at Google of paying lip service to diversity without making actual changes, adding "There is no way more documents or more conversations will achieve anything."
The email that she claims she received from Google, which CNBC has yet to confirm, apparently reads:
"Thanks for making your conditions clear. We cannot agree to #1 and #2 as you are requesting." (Gebru has not publicly detailed what those conditions were.) We respect your decision to leave Google as a result, and we are accepting your resignation. However, we believe the end of your employment should happen faster than your email reflects because certain aspects of the email you sent last night to non-management employees in the brain group reflect behavior that is inconsistent with the expectations of a Google manager."
"As a result, we are accepting your resignation immediately, effective today. We will send your final paycheck to your address in Workday. When you return from your vacation, PeopleOps will reach out to you to coordinate the return of Google devices and assets."
Born and raised in Ethiopia, Gebru studied electrical engineering at Stanford before joining Apple, where she worked on the first iPad, and subsequently Microsoft. Gebru is well known for her work on the race and gender bias of facial recognition systems. In 2018, Gebru and MIT computer scientist Joy Buolamwini co-authored a milestone research paper showing IBM and Microsoft's facial recognition systems were significantly worse when it came to identifying darker-skinned individuals. Google AI head Jeff Dean has praised her publicly on social media.
Several Google employees past and present — as well as tech workers industrywide — took to Twitter to express support for Gebru and point out the irony of terminating an ethics leader in such fashion.
"I thought this was a joke because it seemed ridiculous that anyone would fire @timnitGebru given her expertise, her skills, her influence," wrote former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao on Twitter. "This is one of the many times when I think there is just no hope for the tech industry."
Kate Devlin, an AI researcher at King's College London, said on Twitter: "This is awful. @timnitGebru is one of the best voices in AI Ethics. It's a painful irony that what her employer, Google, is doing to her is shady as hell."
Gebru tweeted that she is now looking for an employment lawyer.
The latest controversy comes on the heels of a complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday that accuses Google of spying on employees, blocking employees from sharing work grievances and retaliation.
Timnit Gebru, a well-known artificial intelligence researcher at Google, tweeted on Wednesday that the company abruptly fired her, drawing widespread statements of support from other Google employees and tech workers throughout the industry.
Gebru, who was the technical co-lead of the Ethical AI Team at Google and worked on algorithmic bias and data mining, is a well-known advocate for diversity in technology and is the co-founder of a community of black researchers called Black in AI. She has been a vocal critic of tech companies' treatment of Black workers and had tweeted veiled criticism about her employer earlier that day.
Gebru claims she received a dismissal email written by someone named Megan who reports to AI head Jeff Dean. She said the email stated leadership fast-tracked her departure because of an email she sent to women and "Allies" within Google Brain, Google's deep learning artificial intelligence research team, earlier in the week.
Gebru said her main corporate account had been cut off while she was on vacation. "I hadn't resigned — I had asked for simple conditions first and said I would respond when I'm back from vacation," tweeted Gebru.
Google declined to comment.
The email Gebru sent to colleagues, according to a report by Casey Newton, stated that superiors suddenly asked her to retract a research paper while presenting almost no information about what was wrong with it or chances to defend herself. In her email, she suggests this incident is part of a larger pattern at Google of paying lip service to diversity without making actual changes, adding "There is no way more documents or more conversations will achieve anything."
The email that she claims she received from Google, which CNBC has yet to confirm, apparently reads:
"Thanks for making your conditions clear. We cannot agree to #1 and #2 as you are requesting." (Gebru has not publicly detailed what those conditions were.) We respect your decision to leave Google as a result, and we are accepting your resignation. However, we believe the end of your employment should happen faster than your email reflects because certain aspects of the email you sent last night to non-management employees in the brain group reflect behavior that is inconsistent with the expectations of a Google manager."
"As a result, we are accepting your resignation immediately, effective today. We will send your final paycheck to your address in Workday. When you return from your vacation, PeopleOps will reach out to you to coordinate the return of Google devices and assets."
Born and raised in Ethiopia, Gebru studied electrical engineering at Stanford before joining Apple, where she worked on the first iPad, and subsequently Microsoft. Gebru is well known for her work on the race and gender bias of facial recognition systems. In 2018, Gebru and MIT computer scientist Joy Buolamwini co-authored a milestone research paper showing IBM and Microsoft's facial recognition systems were significantly worse when it came to identifying darker-skinned individuals. Google AI head Jeff Dean has praised her publicly on social media.
Several Google employees past and present — as well as tech workers industrywide — took to Twitter to express support for Gebru and point out the irony of terminating an ethics leader in such fashion.
"I thought this was a joke because it seemed ridiculous that anyone would fire @timnitGebru given her expertise, her skills, her influence," wrote former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao on Twitter. "This is one of the many times when I think there is just no hope for the tech industry."
Kate Devlin, an AI researcher at King's College London, said on Twitter: "This is awful. @timnitGebru is one of the best voices in AI Ethics. It's a painful irony that what her employer, Google, is doing to her is shady as hell."
Gebru tweeted that she is now looking for an employment lawyer.
The latest controversy comes on the heels of a complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday that accuses Google of spying on employees, blocking employees from sharing work grievances and retaliation.
No comments:
Post a Comment