Google CEO Pichai apologises for handling of departure of AI expert, will work to ‘restore trust’

Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai apologised to employees on Wednesday and launched an investigation into how the company handled the departure of prominent AI researcher Timnit Gebru.

“I’ve heard the reaction to Dr. Gebru’s departure loud and clear,” Pichai said in a staff-wide email sent Wednesday that was reviewed by Bloomberg. “It seeded doubts and led some in our community to question their place at Google. I want to say how sorry I am for that, and I accept the responsibility of working to restore your trust.”

Gebru, a prominent artificial intelligence researcher best-known for showing how facial recognition algorithms are better at identifying white faces than black and brown ones, said she was fired last week after a dispute over an academic paper she co-authored calling out ethical issues related to technology that underpins important products like Google Search.

Pichai’s involvement shows how quickly the episode has spiralled out of control for Jeff Dean, Google’s head of AI and one of the CEO’s top deputies. The visceral reaction to Gebru’s departure – and Dean’s initial response to it – suggests discontent with management at one of the company’s most prized units.

The Alphabet Inc.-owned company has launched an internal review into how her departure was handled and the impact the incident has had on employees, especially those from under-represented minorities, the CEO wrote.

“We need to accept responsibility of the fact that a prominent Black, female leader with immense talent left Google unhappily,” Pichai said. “This loss has had a ripple effect through some of our least represented communities, who saw themselves and some of their experiences reflected in Dr. Gebru’s.”

The researcher wrote on Twitter that the CEO’s email did not go far enough.