Thursday, July 17, 2025
LBNN
  • Business
  • Markets
  • Politics
  • Crypto
  • Finance
  • Energy
  • Technology
  • Taxes
  • Creator Economy
  • Wealth Management
  • Documentaries
No Result
View All Result
LBNN

Google Splits Up a Key AI Ethics Watchdog

Simon Osuji by Simon Osuji
February 4, 2024
in Artificial Intelligence
0
Google Splits Up a Key AI Ethics Watchdog
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


When Google CEO Sundar Pichai emailed his workers the company priorities for 2024 this month, developing AI responsibly was top of the list. Some employees now wonder whether Google can live up to that goal. The small team that has served as its primary internal AI ethics watchdog has lost its leader and is being restructured, according to four people familiar with the changes. A Google spokesperson says its work will continue in a stronger form going forward, but declined to provide details.

Google’s Responsible Innovation team, known as RESIN, was located inside the Office of Compliance and Integrity, in the company’s global affairs division. It reviewed internal projects for compatibility with Google’s AI principles that define rules for development and use of the technology, a crucial role as the company races to compete in generative AI. RESIN conducted over 500 reviews last year, including for the Bard chatbot, according to an annual report on AI principles work Google published this month.

RESIN’s role has looked uncertain since its leader and founder Jen Gennai, director of responsible innovation, suddenly left that role this month, say the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel changes. Gennai’s LinkedIn profile lists her as an AI ethics and compliance adviser at Google as of this month, which sources say suggests she will soon leave based on how past departures from the company played out.

Google split Gennai’s team of about 30 people into two, according to the sources. Company spokesperson Brian Gabriel says 10 percent of RESIN staffers will remain in place while 90% of the team were transferred to trust and safety, which fights abuse of Google services and also resides in the global affairs division. No one appears to have been laid off, sources say. The rationale for the changes and how responsibilities will be broken up couldn’t be learned. Some of the sources say they have not been told how AI principles reviews will be handled going forward.

Gabriel declined to say how RESIN’s work reviewing AI projects will be handled in the future but describes the shakeup as a signal of Google’s commitment to responsible AI development. The move “brought this particular Responsible AI team to the center of our well-established trust and safety efforts, which are baked into our product reviews and plans,” he says. “It will help us strengthen and scale our responsible innovation work across the company.”


Got a Tip?

Are you a current or former employee at Google? We’d like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact Paresh Dave at paresh_dave@wired.com or on Signal/WhatsApp/Telegram at 1-415-565-1302.

Google is known for frequently reshuffling its ranks but RESIN had largely been untouched since the group’s founding. Though other teams, and hundreds of additional people, work on AI oversight at Google, RESIN was the most prominent, with a remit covering all Google’s core services.

In addition to the departure of its leader, Gennai, RESIN also saw one of its most influential members, Sara Tangdall, lead AI principles ethics specialist, leave this month. She is now responsible AI product director at Salesforce, according to her LinkedIn profile. Tangdall declined to comment and Gennai didn’t respond to calls for comment.

AI Uprising

Google created its Responsible Innovation team in 2018 not long after AI experts and others at the company publicly rose up in protest against a Pentagon contract called Project Maven that used Google algorithms to analyze drone surveillance imagery. RESIN became the core steward of a set of AI principles introduced after the protests, which say Google will use AI to benefit people, and never for weapons or undermining human rights. Gennai helped author the principles.

Teams from across Google could submit projects for review by RESIN, which provided feedback and sometimes blocked ideas seen as breaching the AI principles. The group stopped the release of AI image generators and voice synthesis algorithms that could be used to create deepfakes.

Seeking AI principles guidance is not mandatory for most teams, unlike reviews for privacy risks, which every project must undergo. But Gennai has said early reviews of AI systems pay off by preventing costly ethical breaches. “If implemented properly, Responsible AI makes products better by uncovering and working to reduce the harm that unfair bias can cause, improving transparency and increasing security,” she said during a Google conference in 2022.



Source link

Related posts

Adoption Agency Data Exposure Revealed Information About Children and Parents

Adoption Agency Data Exposure Revealed Information About Children and Parents

July 17, 2025
Dyneema’s New Fiber Composite Is Lighter, Stronger, and More Durable Than Ever

Dyneema’s New Fiber Composite Is Lighter, Stronger, and More Durable Than Ever

July 17, 2025
Previous Post

Lack of top cover could be behind DR Congo helicopter attack

Next Post

Egypt’s net foreign assets deficit hits $27.2bln in December: CBE

Next Post
Egypt’s net foreign assets deficit hits $27.2bln in December: CBE

Egypt's net foreign assets deficit hits $27.2bln in December: CBE

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECOMMENDED NEWS

After raising $100M, AI fintech LoanSnap is being sued, fined, evicted

After raising $100M, AI fintech LoanSnap is being sued, fined, evicted

1 year ago
Skills Levies: Unlocking Africa’s Workforce for Economic Growth

Skills Levies: Unlocking Africa’s Workforce for Economic Growth

4 months ago
Coinbase Says They “Expect To Win” Legal Battle With The SEC

Coinbase Says They “Expect To Win” Legal Battle With The SEC

2 years ago
Three entrepreneurs building agriculture and food businesses

Three entrepreneurs building agriculture and food businesses

3 months ago

POPULAR NEWS

  • Ghana to build three oil refineries, five petrochemical plants in energy sector overhaul

    Ghana to build three oil refineries, five petrochemical plants in energy sector overhaul

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • When Will SHIB Reach $1? Here’s What ChatGPT Says

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The world’s top 10 most valuable car brands in 2025

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Tanzania’s natural gas sector goes global with Dubai deal

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Top 10 African countries with the highest GDP per capita in 2025

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 LBNN - All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Markets
  • Crypto
  • Economics
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate
    • Infrastructure
  • Finance
  • Energy
  • Creator Economy
  • Wealth Management
  • Taxes
  • Telecoms
  • Military & Defense
  • Careers
  • Technology
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Investigative journalism
  • Art & Culture
  • Documentaries
  • Quizzes
    • Enneagram quiz
  • Newsletters
    • LBNN Newsletter
    • Divergent Capitalist

© 2023 LBNN - All rights reserved.