Google is investigating AI researcher Margaret Mitchell, who is concerned about AWU

The newly formed Alphabet Workers Union, a Google employee, said it is concerned about Google’s decision to block AI’s chief ethics researcher Margaret Mitchell from her account.

Google shut it down when it found it was downloading material related to Timnit Gebru, another AI ethics researcher who was forced to leave the company last month.

Axios first reported the news, which said Google was investigating Mitchell’s recent actions. According to reports, Mitchell used automated scripts to examine his messages and find examples of discriminatory treatment of Gebru.

“The Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) is concerned about the suspension of corporate access by Margaret Mitchell, a member of the AWU and head of the ethics ethics team,” the union said in a communiqué. “This suspension is achieved after the expedition of Google by the ex-producer Timnit Gebru; together they are an attack on people who try to make Google’s technology more ethical.”

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC, but a spokesman told Axios: “Our security systems automatically block an employee’s corporate account when they detect that the account is at risk of compromise due to of credential issues or when an automated rule occurs that involves sensitive data manipulation. “

The spokesman added: “In this case, yesterday our systems detected that an account had leaked thousands of files and shared them with several external accounts. We told the worker today.”

Gebru, who had been technical co-director of Google’s ethical AI team, made a tweet on December 3rd that Google fired her for a disagreement over a research paper examining the bias in artificial intelligence. The researcher, who had been outspoken about the company’s treatment of black employees, said the treatment was indicative of a broader pattern on Google. It resulted in a wave of industry-wide support, including a petition signed by thousands of Google employees and industry colleagues.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai emailed employees, apologizing for the mistrust sown in the company and the industry amid Gebru’s departure, while pledging that the company would launch a “review “of what failed.

About a week later, Google’s ethical AI team sent Google executives a list of demands to “rebuild trust” following Gebru’s withdrawal from the company.

The team, which provides research, product and policy advice, wrote a six-page letter to Pichai, AI chief Jeff Dean and engineering vice president Megan Kacholia. The letter, entitled “The Future of Ethical AI in Google Research” and viewed by CNBC, picks up on the demands of executives, including Kacholia’s removal from the group’s reporting structure, abstention from retaliation and reinstatement of Gebru to a higher level.

Mitchell founded Google’s artificial AI team and is one of the co-managers. The U.S. described her as a “critical member” of the academic and industry communities around the ethical production of AI. According to LinkedIn, he has been with Google for just over four years and is headquartered in Seattle.

“Regardless of the outcome of the company’s research, the permanent goal of this organization’s leaders calls into question Google’s commitment to ethics, in AI, and in its business practices,” AWU said. “Many members of the AI ​​ethics team are members of AWU and members of our union recognize the crucial work they are doing and stand in solidarity with them at this time.”

Referring to Google’s statement to Axios, the AWU said it marked a “notable deviation from Google’s typical practice of refusing to comment on personnel matters.”

The AWU announced its launch on January 4th. Executive Chairman Parul Koul and Vice President Chewy Shaw, co-author of one piece in the New York Times titled, “We created Google. This is not the company we want to work for.”