Hundreds of Google staffers met on April 26 and discussed what activists allege is a frequent consequence of criticising the company: Retaliation. On April 22, two of those organisers, Meredith Whittaker and Claire Stapleton, wrote an email saying Google had punished them because of their activism. Whittaker tried to get transferred to another Google AI team, a move she said was supported by Jeff Dean, the company’s head of artificial intelligence. “I am grateful that I quit Google,” wrote Liz Fong-Jones, an engineer and outspoken critic who left the company earlier this year. “This is a pattern, these are systemic issues, and we will change it only by speaking up and acting together,” Stapleton wrote in the email.

Source: The Star April 28, 2019 08:48 UTC