Microsoft Fires Entire AI Ethics Team: All the Details
Media reports that Microsoft has laid off its entire ethics and society team, which is committed to ensuring artificial intelligence (AI) innovations that are ethical, responsible and sustainable.
The layoffs of the AI ethics team are part of larger layoffs (10,000 employees) previously announced by the tech giant.
Citing sources, a report in Platformer magazine said the move leaves “Microsoft without its own team to ensure its AI principles are closely tied to product design at a time when the company is responsible for bringing AI tools to the mainstream.”
Microsoft still has an active Office of Responsible AI.
“Microsoft is committed to developing AI products and experiences safely and responsibly, and does so by investing in people, processes and partnerships that prioritize this,” the company said in a statement.
However, employees said the ethics and society team played a key role in ensuring that responsible AI principles are reflected in its products.
According to the report, the team has been working to identify the risks posed by the introduction of Microsoft’s OpenAI technology across its range of products, such as the Bing search engine.
In 2020, the ethics and society team had about 30 employees, including engineers, designers and philosophers.
In October, the team was cut to about seven people as part of a restructuring, according to the report.
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