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Google’s months-long AI ethics rollercoaster isn’t slowing down: On Thursday, it announced a restructuring of its AI ethics teams. And on Friday, it terminated another AI ethics leader.
Margaret Mitchell had co-led the ethical AI team with Timnit Gebru, the researcher Google fired in December. Mitchell lost her job after using an automated script to search emails for evidence of discrimination against Gebru.
Rewind
December: Gebru first tweets about her firing, after a dispute with Google over her paper on the dangers of large language models. Much of the AI community rallies around her, and the news quickly spreads to mainstream media.
January: Google announces it has built a large language model of its own—the biggest of its kind to date. The company bars Mitchell from her email. Google calls for collaboration in probing the limitations of large language models.
Fast-forward
Dr. Marian Croak, a VP of engineering at Google, will lead the restructured AI ethics initiative. Her new JD is a tall order: “Making sure Google develops artificial intelligence responsibly and that it has a positive impact.”
But, but, but: Although the AI ethics teams have a new leader in Croak, she’ll report directly to Jeff Dean, head of Google AI—whose decisions helped set off this sequence to begin with.