Timnit Gebru firing sounds crazy. What’s up with Google Brain?

Dec 3, 2020 78 Comments

#google #brain

Edit: I thought the way Google claimed her firing was a resignation was crazy.

But now that more details are coming to light, about the research paper being denied publication, it makes this fucked up.

My interpretation of what’s up: employee was terminated for cause, because she didn’t understand they needed to publish a marketing white paper, not a research paper.

But she could not be told that directly and that can’t be the official reason, otherwise it would taint the research veneer on the work of everyone else who understands such rule.

Claiming the termination was a resignation was just a poor attempt of obfuscation.

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TOP 78 Comments
  • Google
    megabuck

    Go to company page Google

    megabuck
    What exactly is crazy? What would be a sane corporate response to ‘do this (some unacceptable thing) or I quit?’ other than firing her? She wanted to quit all along - she got it
    Dec 3, 2020 9
    • New
      xhemsbdnd

      New

      xhemsbdnd
      Resignation is a formal process, she did not send a resignation letter, she sent a conversation of terms with the intention to followup after. The recipients went to twist her arms, words, and fire her.. that’s sick
      Dec 3, 2020
    • Pactera
      !TechLead

      Pactera

      !TechLead
      It looks like many reasons bottled up till this time and Google was simply waiting for an opportunity. I think they could have been kinder in letting her go if that's what they really wanted: put her on PIP/other appropriate process, let her know the expectations and give a chance to correct. They did not do any of this because they know they fucked it up.
      Dec 4, 2020
  • Is that the person who demanded to
    not be listed as a co-author in a paper?
    Dec 3, 2020 4
  • IEEE
    64684

    IEEE

    64684
    We need details people!
    A side question, who thinks she's using her fame as weapon and we should hear the full story before judging
    Dec 3, 2020 10
    • Uber
      wrnkly

      Go to company page Uber

      wrnkly
      What was the story with Lecun?
      Dec 3, 2020
    • Comcast
      jsuhf384

      Go to company page Comcast

      jsuhf384
      @uber something along the lines of

      LeCun: Model recognizes white faces bc it was trained on white faces
      Gabru: You're racist and I'm done talking to you

      except in dozens of tweets (all of which I read and now have brain cancer)
      Dec 3, 2020
  • Apple
    xipe

    Go to company page Apple

    xipe
    Google should have fired her earlier
    Dec 3, 2020 5
    • Apple
      xipe

      Go to company page Apple

      xipe
      Another stupid post from idiotic snowflake
      Dec 3, 2020
    • Amazon
      @shvth@m@

      Go to company page Amazon

      @shvth@m@
      This.. Making a demand like "tell me who rejected my paper" is toxic as hell. She was definitely not humble. Such arrogance doesn't come in one day. I am also surprised her a$$ was not shown door much earlier.
      Dec 4, 2020
  • New
    fiddlestick

    New

    fiddlestick
    The facts are scant and we only have her side. Based on what she’s shared:

    1. She sent some email with some demands, threatening to quit if they were not met.
    2. Her skip level, knowing they would not capitulate to her demands, fired her.
    3. They however didn’t call it a firing; they euphemistically said “we accept your resignation, effective immediately.”
    4. She assumed Jeff Dean was consulted on her termination but presents no evidence of that.

    The questions I have are:
    1. What exactly were the demands and were they reasonable things?
    2. Google is well within its right to terminate her employment for any non discriminatory reason. Sounds like there was stuff in the email (wasn’t clear if they were referencing a different email) that violated company policy and those are the grounds on which she was terminated.
    3. Are there any implications for couching the firing as “accepting your resignation” instead of being more direct about it?
    Dec 3, 2020 5