Google Plans to Double AI Ethics Research Staff
May 11 2021 - 12:34PM
Dow Jones News
By Tripp Mickle
Alphabet Inc.'s Google plans to double the size of its team
studying artificial-intelligence ethics in the coming years, as the
company looks to strengthen a group that has had its credibility
challenged by research controversies and personnel defections.
Vice President of Engineering Marian Croak said at The Wall
Street Journal's Future of Everything Festival that the hires will
increase the size of the responsible AI team that she leads to 200
researchers. Additionally, she said that Alphabet Chief Executive
Sundar Pichai has committed to boost the operating budget of a team
tasked with evaluating code and product to avert harm,
discrimination and other problems with AI.
"Being responsible in the way that you develop and deploy AI
technology is fundamental to the good of the business," Ms. Croak
said. "It severely damages the brand if things aren't done in an
ethical way."
Google announced in February that Ms. Croak would lead the AI
ethics group after it fired the division's co-head, Margaret
Mitchell, for allegedly sharing internal documents with people
outside the company. Ms. Mitchell's exit followed criticism of
Google's suppression of research last year by a prominent member of
the team, Timnit Gebru, who says she was fired because of studies
critical of the company's approach to AI. Mr. Pichai pledged an
investigation into the circumstances around Ms. Gebru's departure
and said he would seek to restore trust.
In addition to straining the existing team, those personnel
changes have frayed Google's relationship with external groups
focused on AI such as Black in AI and Queer in AI, which released a
joint statement Monday criticizing Google for setting a "dangerous
precedent for what type of research, advocacy, and retaliation is
permissible in our community." The statement was earlier covered by
Wired.
Ms. Croak called those exits a tragedy and said she agreed to
fill the position because she thought she could help provide some
stability in what has been a distressing time. A Princeton
University graduate, she has a doctorate in social psychology and
quantitative analysis and said she plans to bring her user-focused
approach to engineering and concern about societal issues to the
role.
"I thought, maybe, I could make a difference and carry on the
work and have a larger impact," Ms. Croak said.
Health will be one area of focus for the group, she said. The AI
team recently assisted in the development of an algorithm that can
detect abnormal heart rhythms by scanning fingertips on an Android
phone. During its development, she said the ethics team helped
determine that darker-skinned people had more variabilities and
errors in testings, which had to be addressed before the product's
release.
Ms. Croak is one of very few senior Black executives at Google,
where Black women account for 1.2% of the workforce. She has served
as chair of Google's Black Leadership Advisory Group and has been
active in calling for Silicon Valley companies to improve their
diversity.
"They're disappointing numbers and I think that's true for so
many companies in Silicon Valley," Ms. Croak said of the percentage
of Black employees in Google's workforce. "Fortunately, in the last
year or so, we've made a more concerted effort in attracting Black
talent, but those numbers are pretty dismal."
She said that Google has been more proactive in providing
mentorship to young Black staffers and said that it would take
changing the culture across Silicon Valley to improve opportunities
for people of color in tech.
"Sometimes I think it's the mind-set where you're very
competitive and individualistic in your pursuits in the workplace
and that sometimes can foster, not racism, but at least exclusion,"
Ms. Croak said.
Write to Tripp Mickle at Tripp.Mickle@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 11, 2021 12:19 ET (16:19 GMT)
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