Google pulls the plug on AI council that included Heritage Foundation leader

Google has abandoned an advisory board on ethics in AI after critics questioned the inclusion of Kay Coles James, leader of the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation, on the 8-person panel. Google employees and thousands more concerned people called for this mistake to be corrected, and in response the company has apparently chosen to drop the whole thing. Vox first reported the news. The Advanced Technology External Advisory Council was launched late in March to "consider some of Google's most complex challenges that arise under our AI Principles, like facial recognition and fairness in machine learning, providing diverse perspectives to inform our work." Among the names well known in tech and academia, James stood out; She and the Heritage Foundation harbor, as my colleague put it just two days ago, "vehemently anti-LGBT views and a deep track record of advocating for climate change denialism in the service of the oil and gas industry."