Google to change research process after uproar over scientists' firing - The Guardian

In remarks at a staff meeting last Friday, Google Research executives said they were working to regain trust after the company ousted two prominent women and rejected their work, according to an hour-long recording, the content of which was confirmed by two sources.

Jeff Dean, Google’s senior vice-president overseeing the division, said on Friday that the “sensitive topics” review “is and was confusing” and that he had tasked a senior research director, Zoubin Ghahramani, with clarifying the rules, according to the recording.

Ghahramani, a University of Cambridge professor who joined Google in September from Uber, said during the town hall, “We need to be comfortable with that discomfort” of self-critical research.

Lawyers also required deleting references to Google technology; the authors’ finding that AI leaked copyrighted content; and the words “breach” and “sensitive”, the email said.

The company said it had no issues with the topics investigated by the paper, but it found some legal terms used inaccurately and conducted a thorough edit as a result.

During the town hall, Dean elaborated on what scholarship the company would support.

Employees continued to post about their frustrations over the last month on Twitter as Google investigated and then fired Margaret Mitchell, an ethical AI co-lead, for moving electronic files outside the company.

Asked for comment, Mitchell expressed through an attorney disappointment in Dean’s critique of the paper and said her name was removed following a company order