Microsoft has cut its entire ethics and social team within AI (opens in new tab) This is part of a 10,000 layoffs across the company.
The tech giant currently lacks a team to ensure AI product designs are aligned with responsible AI values. The Redmond giant mobilizes technology in every product and service. (opens in new tab) Conceivable.
The Office for Responsible AI (ORA) Is Still There, The Company Claims It (opens in new tab) “Through our governance and public policy efforts, we put Microsoft principles into practice by setting company-wide rules for responsible AI.”
internal conflict
Microsoft also claims that despite the demise of Teams, investment in ensuring AI is developed responsibly has actually increased.
“Over the last six years, we have grown the number of people across our product teams and within our Responsible AI Office. Thank you for your pioneering work,” the company said.
Meanwhile, employees said the Ethics and Society team was critical to ensuring that the AI products they actually designed instilled the principles of responsibility that the company upheld.
Commenting on how the team understood the principles coming out of ORA for product designers, a former employee said, “Our job was to show them. [how they apply] It is to make rules in areas where there were no rules. ”
The team also developed a toolkit to help product designers learn about these principles and recognize potential harm when creating AI tools. The team was working to identify the risks of incorporating his OpenAI technology into Microsoft products as well.
The Ethics and Society team had 30 members in 2020, but last October it reduced that number to seven as part of a reorganization.
Silicon Valley news site Platformer claims to have obtained the leaked audio. (opens in new tab) During the meetings that followed the restructuring, conflicts between the team and John Montgomery, corporate vice president of AI at Microsoft, were highlighted.
Montgomery talks about the enormous pressure to adopt AI models from Microsoft’s governance and “get them into the hands of customers very quickly.” He reassured employees that most members of the team would be transferred to other areas of the company.
One team member objected, stating, “This team has always been deeply concerned about how we impact society and the negative impact we have had. And they are serious.”
A further meeting earlier this month confirmed that the remaining members of the team would also be disbanded and eliminated entirely.
Another employee has since lamented the layoffs, believing they rushed to implement AI in their business without proper oversight and consideration of the ethical implications of AI, saying, “The worst thing that could happen is putting your business at risk.” exposed and put humans at risk by doing this.
