Google fired another artificial intelligence researcher, Margaret Mitchell. This is yet another decrease resulting from the recent escalation of internal tensions in the company. It all started after the controversial expulsion of Timnit Gebru, a top black employee who expressed her frustration at gender diversity in Google’s Artificial Intelligence business.
Apparently, the company is unable to contain the “fire” that spreads in its AI ethics team.
Google punishes clandestine investigation
Mitchell, who previously led the team alongside Gebru, was caught using automated scripts to dig through his work emails. According to Axios reports, the investigator sought to find evidence of discrimination and harassment to support Gebru's allegations.
After what happened in December 2020, with the removal of investigators Timnit Gebru, Margaret Mitchell did not conform to the attitude of Google. In January, it lost access to its corporate e-mail after the research giant initiated an investigation into its activity.
In statements to Reuters, Google says that Mitchell's dismissal followed the disciplinary recommendations of investigators and a review committee. Google said Mitchell violated the company's code of conduct and security policies and transferred electronic files outside the company.
Mitchell announced his resignation on Friday night in a harsh and raw tweet:
I'm fired.
- MMitchell (@mmitchell_ai) February 19, 2021
When contacted by CNN about Google's allegations, the ethics expert told the news agency:
In fact, I don't know about these claims. I mean, most of this is new to me.
Google accused of sexism and racial discrimination
Now fired, the scientist joined the company in 2016 as a senior research scientist. At the time, his mission was primarily to found the Google ethics team with Timnit Gebru. However, in recent months, Mitchell has openly criticized Gebru's abrupt dismissal.
Timnit Gebru is one of the few black employees at the company (only 3.7% of Google employees are black according to their 2020 annual diversity report). Gebru claims she was fired after raising concerns about the company's diversity protocols and its attempt to censor critical research into its products.
The cloak of racism seems to be consuming the research giant inside. According to Mitchell, Gebru's dismissal “created a domino effect of trauma for her and the rest of the team”. She believes that the punishments do not stop there, there may still be other members who will be punished as a result of this trauma.
I am concerned about @timnitGebru 's firing from Google and its relationship to sexism and discrimination. I wanted to share the email I wrote to Google press the day my access was cut off. https://t.co/O7JPlqJW8L
- MMitchell (@mmitchell_ai) February 5, 2021
Another of the company's top AI investigators, Alex Hanna, tweeted an image that night, allegedly, of an email she received from senior officials threatening that she is next in the dismissal process.
Because he can't harass me on Twitter, Michael Lissack deciding to harass me over email.
Absolutely normal stuff, right here. pic.twitter.com/Un53jMFSQP
- Dr. Alex Hanna (@alexhanna) February 20, 2021
Ethics amid controversy
Thousands of employees and experts at the research giant in the AI community protested the company's decision to fire Gebru. As a result, there is now increased scrutiny about the company's AI ethics investigation.
It is reported that internal tensions started to bubble up when Google tried to stifle dissent and wanted to hurry to turn the page on the controversy, burying it in a wave of policy changes.
Earlier this week, Google announced plans to restructure its responsible AI teams to consolidate leadership under the command of Marian Croak, vice president of engineering at Google. However, hours before Mitchell's dismissal, Google allegedly sent an internal email detailing several other new changes to the research and diversity policy that the company is implementing following an internal investigation into Gebru's termination.
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