Google's AI ethics drama has taken another twist. Three groups working to promote diversity in AI say they will no longer accept funding from the search giant after a series of controversial firings at the company. Queer in AI, Black in AI, and Widening NLP cited the dismissals of Timnit Gebru and Margaret, the former co-leads of Google's Ethical AI team, as well as recruiter April Christina Curley, as reasons for the decision. In a joint statement issued on Monday, the groups said Google's actions had "inflicted tremendous harm" and "set a dangerous precedent for what type of research, advocacy, and retaliation is permissible in our community." Until Google addresses the harm they've caused by undermining both inclusion and critical research, we are unable to reconcile Google's actions with our organizational missions.We have therefore decided to end our sponsorship relationship with Google.

Google has lost a couple of talents due to the way it treated and the departure of its former top AI ethics researcher, Dr. Timnit Gebru. According to Reuters, engineering director David Baker left the tech giant last month after 16 years with the company. In a letter seen by the news organization, Baker said Gebru's exit "extinguished [his] desire to continue as a Googler." He added: "We cannot say we believe in diversity, and then ignore the conspicuous absence of many voices from within our walls." Software engineer Vinesh Kannan, who built infrastructure and features for organic shopping on the website, has also left the company.

Two Google engineers have quit over the treatment of Timnit Gebru, a prominent Black artificial intelligence researcher whose exit from the company sparked widespread outrage in the tech industry. David Baker, an engineering director focused on user safety, left Google last month after 16 years because Gebru's departure "extinguished my desire to continue as a Googler", he said in a letter seen by Reuters. Baker added: "We cannot say we believe in diversity, and then ignore the conspicuous absence of many voices from within our walls." Vinesh Kannan, a software engineer, said on Wednesday that he had also left the company this week because Google had mistreated Gebru and April Christina Curley, a Black recruiter who has said she was wrongly fired from Google last year. "They were wronged," Kannan said in a tweet.

To be productive in the age of automation, human skills as well as social and emotional capabilities will matter more than anything. The future of work in a world of robots may not be as bleak for us humans after all, with a range of our skills pivotal for managing data and automation. 'Deep end-market intimacy will become the space of most demand, not the technology itself' – ROB CURLEY According to Curley, the pace at which technology changes has always led to skills gaps as organisations and staff attempt to keep up. This, he says, is not a new issue but there is currently more impacting change than simply the advances in technology that are taking place. "Because organisations do not have enough skills internally to do the jobs, we are seeing more and more companies coming together with universities, innovation centres and product vendors, facilitated by smaller specialist companies, to bring the technology process capability in-house. But there are still skillset gaps," said Curley.