Google AI ethicist says she was fired because of an email – CNET

Timnit Gebru, a co-leader of Google’s Ethical Artificial Intelligence team, said late Wednesday that she’d been abruptly fired from the search giant over an email she sent to colleagues. 

Gebru, a prominent AI researcher, has done studies on the dangers of facial recognition bias and has spoken out on the lack of diversity in the tech industry. 

In a series of tweets Wednesday night, Gebru said she was terminated for a message she sent to Google Brain Women and Allies, an internal email list at the company. After sending the email, Gebru said she received a note from her manager telling her the message was “inconsistent with the expectations of a Google manager.” 

Gebru didn’t publicly share the contents of her initial email to the Brain group. But the email reportedly criticized Google’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion operation for being unaccountable, according to Platformer, which posted the email. “So if you would like to change things, I suggest focusing on leadership accountability and thinking through what types of pressures can also be applied from the outside,” Gebru wrote. 

Gebru said on Twitter that the dispute arose after she emailed her manager about a disagreement over a research paper. She said she didn’t resign, but that her manager emailed Gebru’s direct reports to say she “accepted my resignation.” After that, Gebru said her corporate email account had been shut down.

Gebru and Google didn’t respond to requests for comment.

After Gebru said on Wednesday that she’d been fired, former Google employees began tweeting “I support @timnitGebru.”

The incident with Gebru comes as Google has already drawn intense criticism for its handling of labor issues. On the same day as Gebru’s tweets, Google was accused by the US labor board of retaliating against workers who organized protests against the search giant. In a complaint from the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency said Google broke US labor laws by surveilling, interrogating and firing activist employees.

Over the last few years, Google has faced tumult as it’s dealt with uprisings from its workforce. Rank-and-file employees have spoken out against the company’s work in China, its contracts with the US military, and Google’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations against senior executives.