Google—Google fired AI ethics co-lead Timnit Gebru for refusing to retract research paper on language model risks
In December 2020, Google fired Timnit Gebru, co-lead of its Ethical AI team, after she refused to retract her name from a paper ('On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots') that detailed risks of large language models. Over 2,600 Google employees and 4,000 external AI researchers signed a protest letter. Google subsequently fired Margaret Mitchell, the other Ethical AI co-lead, in February 2021. The incident demonstrated corporate pressure to suppress inconvenient AI safety research.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Safety | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Research Integrity | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Whistleblower Protection | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.787 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Multiple reports confirm Google fired Timnit Gebru for refusing to retract AI ethics paper
In December 2020, Google fired Timnit Gebru, co-lead of its Ethical AI team, after she refused to retract her name from the 'Stochastic Parrots' paper. Over 2,600 Google employees and 4,000 external researchers signed a protest letter. Margaret Mitchell, the other Ethical AI co-lead, was fired in February 2021.