Google AI Unit’s High Ideals Are Tainted With Secrecy
The high-flying DeepMind division has been too guarded about staff mistreatment.
More transparency would help.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Google’s groundbreaking DeepMind unit makes a pledge on its website to “benefit humanity” through research into artificial intelligence. It may need to solve a more practical problem first: allowing staff to speak freely about alleged mistreatment in the workplace.
An open letter published last week by a former employee criticized DeepMind for stopping her from speaking to colleagues and managers soon after she started being harassed by a fellow employee. The senior colleague subjected her to sexual and behavioral harassment for several months, she said, and she claimed it took DeepMind nearly a year to resolve her case.