Google will investigate the controversial exit of a top AI ethicist

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has pledged to investigate the departure of a top AI ethics researcher, according to a company-wide memo Axios obtained. "I've heard the reaction to Dr. Gebru's departure loud and clear: it seeded doubts and led some in our community to question their place at Google," Pichai wrote. "I want to say how sorry I am for that, and I accept the responsibility of working to restore your trust." Gebru, who was co-lead of the Ethical Artificial Intelligence Team, said Google fired her last week, but the company said she resigned. Google declined to grant Gebru and four other Google employees permission to include the company's name or theirs on a paper that was accepted for publication.