Google to examine the departure of a leading AI ethics researcher

Google says it will examine the departure of a prominent Black female researcher in the field of ethics in artificial intelligence, whose recent, sudden exit has angered thousands of the company's employees and others in the tech and academic communities. In a memo sent Wednesday to Google (GOOG) employees, CEO Sundar Pichai said the company needs to "assess the circumstances" that led up to Timnit Gebru leaving Google last week, and examine "where we could have improved and led a more respectful process." "We will begin a review of what happened to identify all the points where we can learn -- considering everything from de-escalation strategies to new processes we can put in place," he wrote in a memo that was first posted online by news website Axios and has been confirmed as authentic by CNN Business. A Google spokeswoman said the company had no comment. Gebru is known for her research into bias and inequality in AI, and in particular for a 2018 paper she coauthored with Joy Buolamwini that highlighted how poorly commercial facial-recognition software fared when attempting to classify women and people of color.