The cuts affected about 12,000 workers at Google and its parent company. The team working on responsible AI shed at least three members in a January round of layoffs at the company, including the head of governance and programs. “We are continuing to invest in the teams that work on applying our AI Principles to our technology,” said Brian Gabriel, a spokesperson. In response to questions from Bloomberg, Google said responsible AI remains a top priority at the company. “If ethics aren't positioned to take precedence over profit and growth, they will not ultimately work.” “AI ethics has taken a back seat,” said Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation, which supports private messaging, and a former Google manager. Google is aiming to revitalize its maturing search business around the cutting-edge technology, which could put generative AI into millions of phones and homes around the world - ideally before OpenAI, with the backing of Microsoft Corp., beats the company to it. The staffers who are responsible for the safety and ethical implications of new products have been told not to get in the way or to try to kill any of the generative AI tools in development, they said.
The group working on ethics that Google pledged to fortify is now disempowered and demoralized, the current and former workers said. That was a markedly faster pace of development for the technology, and one that could have profound societal impact.
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