The head of Google AI apologizes for the dismissal of the principal investigator as the company announces new diversity policies

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Google’s head of artificial intelligence (AI) apologized for his dismissal Timnit Gebru, one of its top researchers as the company announced new diversity policies.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., sent an email to employees Friday explaining the new changes, a person familiar with the situation said. Bloomberg News. In the email obtained by the news channel, the head of Google AI, Jeff Dean, apologized for having managed the departure of Gebru.

Email was the first denounced by Axios.

“I understand we might have to handle the situation more sensitively,” Dean wrote in the email, according to Bloomberg. “And that’s why I’m sorry.”

Dean acknowledged that Google’s handling of Gebru hurt some black women and employees and led them to wonder if they belonged. However, Dean did not apologize directly to Gebru in the email.

The Hill has contacted Google for comments.

The changes come after Pichai said in December that he would review the process that led to Gebru’s removal.

Gebru, who co-leads Google’s ethical AI team, stated that she was fired through an email questioning the censorship of a research paper on the ethical and environmental implications of large-scale artificial intelligence models.

At the time, Dean pushed back the idea that she was fired and shared an email in which she said the company accepted her resignation. Thousands of employees signed a petition demanding transparency around their departure.

Pichai’s Friday email did not acknowledge what the review found, but detailed several changes in the way it handles employee research and outflows, according to Axios.

Gebru expressed his displeasure at the situation on Friday.

“I obviously didn’t expect anything more” Gebru tweeted. “I write an email asking for things, they fire me, and after a 3-month investigation, they say they should probably do some of the things I was allegedly fired for, without anyone taking responsibility for their actions.”

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