Google's AI Ethics Council faces staff opposition over Heritage Foundation member

'Googlers Against Transphobia' demand removal of Heritage Foundation president from Google's newly established AI Ethics Council

Google's AI Ethics Council has been marred by controversies less than a week after the company announced the initiative.

On 26th March, Google revealed that it was creating the eight-member Advanced Technology External Advisory Council (ATEAC) to advise on ethical issues surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), automation and other emerging technologies.

More than one thousand Google employees, academic researchers, and other tech personalities have signed a letter demanding removal of Kay Coles James, the president of the Heritage Foundation, from the Council.

The Heritage Foundation is a conservative, free market think-tank that opposes sexual orientation and gender identity anti-discrimination laws.

In a post published on Medium, a group of Google employees calling themselves 'Googlers Against Transphobia' claimed that James' views are not only against Google's stated values, but are also against the idea that the application of AI must prioritise justice over profit.

Dyan Gibbens, the CEO of Trumbull, is another member of the panel considered controversial among a section of Google's staff. Trumbull is a company that creates autonomous systems for the defence industry.

Gibbens' selection is contentious considering that thousands of Google employees had opposed the company's decision to provide AI technology to the US Air Force to help with drone imaging.

In addition, according to Bloomberg, Gibbens and co-founders of the firm have previously worked on projects that involved developing drones for the US military.

And one member of the panel, Alessandro Acquisti, said this week that he won't be able to serve ATEAC as he doesn't regard it as the "right forum" for him "to engage in this important work".

Acquisti is a digital privacy researcher, a behavioral economist and a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

The internet advertising giant only announced the formation of the Council last week, claiming that the panel of policy makers, philosophers, economists and technologists would provide the company with guidelines for the use of AI in Google's future projects.

"This group will 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," Kent Walker, Google's senior vice president for global affairs, said in a blog post, while announcing the ATEAC.

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