{"id":2465,"date":"2021-01-21T15:00:24","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T15:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1334958"},"modified":"2021-01-21T15:00:24","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T15:00:24","slug":"google-union-slams-companys-treatment-of-ai-ethics-researchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=2465","title":{"rendered":"Google union slams company\u2019s treatment of AI ethics researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/neural?filter_last=1&amp;fit=1280%2C640&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2021%2F01%2FUntitled-design-2021-01-21T145619.798.png&amp;signature=346ae2a9941e91f5c96cf5381161e2f0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><span>The Alphabet Workers Union (AWU)&nbsp; has slammed the company\u2019s treatment of two prominent AI researchers as \u201can&nbsp;attack<\/span> on the people who are trying to make Google\u2019s technology more ethical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The newly-formed union issued a statement on the \u201cretaliation\u201d against AI ethics lead Margaret Mitchell, whose <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/neural\/2021\/01\/20\/after-firing-timnit-gebru-google-is-now-investigating-another-researcher-in-its-ethical-ai-division\/\">corporate account was recently suspended<\/a>&nbsp;by the Big G.<\/p>\n<p>Mitchell had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/scoop-google-is-investigating-the-actions-of-another-top-ai-ethicist-50030739-ea3d-4ea2-b452-c228b4fc9773.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">reportedly<\/a> been using automated scripts to find messages showing mistreatment of her former colleague Timnit Gebru, whose forced departure in December sparked a backlash among Google staff.<\/p>\n<p><em>[Read:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/distract\/2020\/12\/21\/how-netflix-shapes-mainstream-culture-explained-by-data\/\">How Netflix shapes mainstream culture, explained by data<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In a statement, the AWU described the actions against the two researchers&nbsp; as \u201c<span>an attack on the people who are trying to make Google\u2019s technology more ethical.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"5.7714285714286\">\n<p><span>We know that&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/tomspiggle\/2020\/12\/09\/the-nlrb-accuses-google-of-retaliating-against-workers-trying-to-improve-their-working-conditions\/?sh=1ca1ebbd76cf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Alphabet frequently pushes against the limits of legal protections for workers<\/a>&nbsp;with regards to their termination decisions. Being an individual targeted by one of the world\u2019s largest corporations is terrifying, and reinforces the need for unions in the workplace.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The union added that Google\u2019s statement on Mitchell was unusual in that the&nbsp;company typically refuses to comment on personnel matters.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIn this case, they have directly attacked Margaret and attempted to tarnish her reputation by making claims that they\u2019re allegedly still investigating,\u201d it said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The AWU added that it will continue to monitor the situation, which has deepened concerns about Google quashing internal dissent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-post-pubDate\"> Published January 21, 2021 \u2014 15:00 UTC <\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/neural\/2021\/01\/21\/google-union-slams-companys-treatment-of-ai-ethics-researchers\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Alphabet Workers Union (AWU)&nbsp; has slammed the company\u2019s treatment of two prominent AI researchers as \u201can&nbsp;attack on the people who are trying to make Google\u2019s technology more ethical.\u201d The newly-formed union&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}