Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai made an apology to employees on Wednesday and initiated a probing into how the company managed the departure of prominent artificial intelligence researcher Timnit Gebru.
Pichai's Apology
According to Pichai in a staff-wide e-mail, "I've heard the reaction to Dr. Gebru's departure loud and clear. It seeded doubts and led some in our community to question their place at Google. I want to say how sorry I am for that, and I accept the responsibility of working to restore your trust," reported NPR.
Dr. Timnit Gebru is a renowned researcher in artificial intelligence ethics.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent the memo to staffers regarding AI researcher Gebru's exit from the company last week, stating Google would investigate "the circumstances that led up to Dr. Gebru's departure, examining where we could have improved and led a more respectful process," reported NewsAroundUs.
Pichai apologized regarding the aftermath of the alleged dismissal of the acclaimed Black scientist whose ouster resulted in widespread condemnation from thousands of Google employees and researchers outside the company.
Gebru, who helped spearhead Google's Ethical Artificial Intelligence team, remarked she was fired last week following a contention over a research paper and sending a note to other employees of the company denouncing it for its treatment of people of color and women, particularly in hiring.
Gebru has been adamant regarding Google's treatment of Black employees and alleged the treatment was indicative of a broader pattern at the tech giant. The dismissal produced a firestorm of support across the industry and a petition signed by thousands of industry peers and the company's employees, reported CNBC.
Pichai did not indicate Gebru was dismissed, as she and many others have alleged. He promised to review the steps that resulted in her leaving the tech giant.
Pichai also apologized for how Gebru's leaving had resulted in some of their employees questioning their place at Google and pledged to take into consideration "de-escalation strategies" for the future.
Gebru, who co-lead Google's Ethical Artificial Intelligence Team, had the responsibility of bolstering artificial intelligence in a socially responsible manner. She alleged Google's management wanted her to remove her name from a paper that indicated how a large-scale AI language model (LLM) could produce biased results. They reportedly fired her when she declined.
Gebru's exit has ignited outrage among the company's workforce and around the tech industry.
In a series of tweets, she remarked she was fired by Google, but the tech giant claims she tendered her resignation.
Gebru is best-known for displaying how facial recognition algorithms are better at identifying White faces than Black and Brown ones. She indicated she was fired last week over a dispute of her calling out ethical issues associated with technology that underpins vital products, including Google Search.
The Google CEO's involvement in the matter displays how hastily the situation has aggravated for Jeff Dean, Google's head of AI and one of Pichai's top deputies.
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