Google fired an AI researcher who referred to as into query a widely known paper the corporate revealed in 2020, a 3rd high-profile termination in lower than two years.
Satrajit Chatterjee was fired in March after he and his crew challenged a Google analysis paper about using synthetic intelligence to make laptop chips, in keeping with The New York Occasions. The analysis paper, which was revealed in Nature, a prestigious science journal, stated computer systems may design components of chips quicker than people.
In an inner electronic mail, Chatterjee, 43, challenged a few of the paper’s assertions, in keeping with the Occasions. He additionally questioned whether or not the know-how had been totally examined, the paper reported.
In a press release to the Occasions, Google defended its analysis paper and practices.
“We totally vetted the unique Nature paper and stand by the peer-reviewed outcomes,” stated Zoubin Ghahramani, a vice chairman at Google Analysis within the assertion to the Occasions. “We additionally rigorously investigated the technical claims of a subsequent submission, and it didn’t meet our requirements for publication.”
Google did not instantly reply to a request for remark. Chatterjee did not reply to an electronic mail.
Chatterjee’s dismissal follows two high-profile firings inside Google AI. In December 2020, the Google unit fired Timnit Gebru, one of many leaders of its Moral AI crew after she revealed a paper figuring out the risks of bias in AI language fashions. Two months later, Margaret Mitchell, who co-led the Moral AI crew, was fired for violating the corporate’s code of conduct for reportedly utilizing automated software program to scan her messages to seek out discriminatory therapy of Gebru.
Google has stated Gebru revealed the paper with out going via the right channels.
The search large has made its AI analysis central to the corporate’s repute for innovation. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has stated AI will likely be extra vital than electrical energy or hearth. The corporate has built-in AI fashions in its core search product as a approach to give customers higher outcomes whereas decreasing spam.
Google rejected a paper Chatterjee and his crew wrote that rebuts the unique paper, in keeping with the Occasions. The researchers tried to escalate the problem to Pichai and Alphabet’s board, the paper reported.
