The note centers on the departure of Google AI ethics
researcher Timnit Gebru, which set off protests inside the company. Citing that
situation, the employees called for a company vice president, Megan Kacholia,
to no longer be part of their reporting chain. “We have lost trust in her as a
leader,” the researchers wrote, according to a copy of the later obtained by
Bloomberg.
Gebru has said she was fired after the company rejected a
research paper she co-authored that questioned an AI technology at the heart of
Google’s search engine. The company has said she resigned and Google’s Chief
Executive Officer Sundar Pichai told staff he is investigating the incident.
“Google’s short-sighted decision to fire and retaliate
against a core member of the Ethical AI team makes it clear that we need swift
and structural changes if this work is to continue, and if the legitimacy of
the field as a whole is to persevere,” the letter reads.
It was sent Wednesday to officials including Pichai by
employee Alex Hanna, who worked with Gebru, on behalf of Google’s Ethical AI
team.
“This research must be able to contest the company’s short-term
interests and immediate revenue agendas, as well as to investigate AI that is
deployed by Google’s competitors with similar ethical motives,” the researchers
added.
The letter urges Google to offer Gebru the chance to return
to the company “at a higher level” than the one she had before. The researchers
also asked that Kacholia and Jeff Dean, the AI division chief, apologize to
Gebru for their treatment of her. It also calls for the company to issue a
public commitment to academic integrity and to establish racial literacy
training for management.
This is the latest worker uprising at Google. In 2018,
thousands of employees walked out and some of them sent the company a list of
reform demands, including placing an employee representative on the board.
While the company made some changes, such as no longer forcing employees to
arbitrate workplace claims, the bulk of those demands remain unmet. -