(Reuters) – Staff at Google’s ethical AI research team on Wednesday demanded that the company set aside a vice president and commit to greater academic freedom, escalating a confrontation with management following the resignation of ‘this month by scientist Timnit Gebru.
Staff called on Vice President Megan Kacholia to be removed from the team’s management chain after she allegedly excluded Gebru’s boss from the decision to fire her, according to an internal document seen by Reuters.
Gebru had questioned Google’s demand that it withdraw a document describing the damages arising from similar technology to Google, and the company responded by saying it accepted its waiver.
The paper also called for an explanation of the layoff, transparency in staff role reviews, and an investigation into how Google handles employee complaints about working conditions, such as those Gebru raised while in the company.
Separately, U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and seven other members of Congress wrote a public letter Wednesday to Alphabet Inc. executive director Sundar Pichai, asking about plans to review Gebru’s layoffs. and policies for publishing research.
The lawsuits represent the latest in a series of conflicts between Google and its critics, as 20,000 of its workers quit their jobs worldwide to protest how the search giant handled sexual harassment claims. The company changed policies later.
Gebru gained prominence as a co-founder of the nonprofit organization Black in AI and as a co-author of a paper on bias in facial analysis technology. She was co-director of the Internet company’s ethical AI team, which the employee document said was essential to informing the public about the impacts of AI systems, even when that meant constructive criticism of Google .
Google and Kacholia did not immediately return any feedback requests. It was unclear how many people were the plaintiffs, who followed a previous request for academic freedom that garnered signatures from more than 2,600 people at the company.
Bloomberg previously reported the news.
Report by Jeffrey Dastin and Paresh Dave; Edited by Stephen Coates