It turned out that Google was asking in-house researchers to make a positive tone in thesis review on artificial intelligence. The team leader refused to withdraw and was eventually fired for requesting the withdrawal or resignation of the thesis over the internal review of Google.
According to information obtained from insiders, Google introduced screening from June 2020, asking the author to refrain from treating the technology negatively in at least three cases so far. When the author of a technology-related study recommending content to users published their research in the summer of 2020, they were told that they should pay close attention to a positive tone for Google’s senior manager. In this paper, I was referring to YouTube, but in the end, all the comments about Google products were removed.
One researcher who felt that Google had begun interfering with important research that could harm the technology said that he faced a serious problem of censorship if he did research on appropriate things based on his expertise and did not allow disclosure because it did not meet the review. He expressed a sense of crisis.
Dr. Timnit Gebru, who led the research team, refused to be asked to withdraw the thesis during an internal review. In addition, he was fired because he sent an e-mail to consult with colleagues about the company’s diversity issues. In response, more than 1,200 Google employees signed a complaint, and there was great criticism both inside and outside the company, and CEO Sundar Pichai also promised an investigation in an email sent to all employees.
Google’s in-house screening was originally aimed at checking not to leak corporate secrets to the outside. It is said to contain a variety of contents such as religion, autonomous vehicles, communications, web content recommendation and customized systems. Related information can be found here .