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Fired Google AI Ethicist Says Company Ignored Her, Scapegoated Her as ‘Angry Black Woman’

“They put you in this terrible workplace, and if you speak up about it, then you become a problem, and then they start talking about de-escalation strategies,” Gebru said.

A top AI ethicist who was fired by Google over an email said Thursday she felt the company dehumanized her and scapegoated her as an “angry Black woman.” In her offending email, scientist Timnit Gebru said the company had failed its diversity goals and ignored her input, despite her status as a pioneer in the field, according to Bloomberg. While Google CEO Sundar Pichai would later apologize for how the company handled her firing, Gebru told VentureBeat his reference to “de-escalation” played into the old, racist trope. “They put you in this terrible workplace, and if you speak up about it, then you become a problem, and then they start talking about de-escalation strategies,” Gebru said.