Google is investigating artificial intelligence researcher Margaret Mitchell, who co-leads the company’s AI team, and has blocked her corporate account, Axios reports. The news comes just over a month after another prominent AI ethics expert, Timnit Gebru, said she was fired by the company. Mitchell’s account is now blocked for “at least a few days”, but she has not been fired, according to a tweet from Gebru. Mitchell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement given to Axios, Google said it was investigating Mitchell after its systems detected that an account “exfiltrated thousands of files and shared them with several external accounts”. According to a Axios source, Mitchell was using a script to go through his messages, finding examples of Gebru’s discriminatory treatment. Last week, Mitchell tweeted to say he was documenting “Current critical issues of [Gebru’s] shoot, point to point, in and out of work.”
Shortly after midnight. Access 10 pages documenting current critical issues of @timnitGebru is firing, point to point, in and out of work. For Jeff Dean and whoever can really read it (anyone?). I remember when I was doing research.
– MMitchell (@mmitchell_ai) January 15, 2021
Google said its security systems automatically block corporate employee accounts “when they detect that the account is at risk of compromise due to credential issues or when an automated rule involving handling sensitive data has been triggered”
“We explained this to the employee earlier today,” said Google, “We are actively investigating this issue as part of standard procedures for gathering additional details.”
Mitchell has already tweeted in support of Gebru and criticized Google and other major technology companies for their approaches to diversity and systematic prejudice. Yesterday she tweeted to criticize Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s approach to diversity in the workplace.
Google faced widespread criticism after Gebru left the company. Bloomberg reports that thousands of internal employees and external academics and activists signed a petition in support of the AI researcher. The company has faced constant criticism for its work on Project Maven, an AI project designed to improve military drone attacks. Opposition to the project was cited as one of the main reasons when Google employees announced union plans earlier this year.