Following the recent departure of artificial intelligence researcher Dr. Timnit Gebru from Google last week, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai distributed a message to employees, as reported by Axios. In this communication, Pichai stated the company would conduct a review of “the events surrounding Dr. Gebru’s exit, assessing areas for improvement and ensuring a more respectful process going forward.”

Gebru publicly stated she was terminated from her position after sending an email to her team expressing her concerns regarding the organization’s approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as the review process for her research. This email was sent in response to Google’s decision not to authorize the inclusion of her and her colleagues’ names on an AI ethics study focused on language models. Prior to this, Gebru had communicated to her managers that she would consider leaving if certain requirements were not met. Google then informed her that her resignation had been accepted and subsequently disabled her access to company email.

In his message, Pichai acknowledged the company’s responsibility for the fact that “a highly skilled and prominent Black female leader departed Google with dissatisfaction.” He also recognized the impact this situation has had, creating a “ripple effect” within underrepresented groups at Google.

Google did not provide a statement but verified the authenticity of the memo. The complete memo is available for review on Axios.

Pichai’s message was released shortly after over 2,000 Google employees and numerous other individuals added their names to a letter in support of Gebru.

“Rather than being valued as an exceptional and highly productive contributor, Dr. Gebru encountered resistance, experienced instances of racism, was subjected to gaslighting, faced censorship of her research, and ultimately was subjected to what appears to be a retaliatory dismissal,” the letter stated. “Google leaders communicated to Dr. Gebru’s team on December 2, 2020, that she had voluntarily resigned. This is inaccurate. These leaders directly informed Dr. Gebru of her immediate termination, citing an email she sent to a Google Brain diversity and inclusion distribution list as justification.”

The signatories further requested that those responsible for the handling of Dr. Gebru’s research paper meet with the Ethical AI team to provide an explanation of the events that transpired. They also called for increased transparency in the decision-making processes and a firm commitment from Google Research to uphold research integrity and academic freedom.