谷歌擬擴大人工智能倫理研究團隊規(guī)模

谷歌計劃在未來幾年將其人工智能倫理研究團隊規(guī)模擴大一倍，因為該公司希望打造一個受到研究爭議和人員缺陷的信譽挑戰(zhàn)的團隊。

Alphabet Inc.’s Google plans to double the size of its team studying artificial-intelligence ethics in the coming years, as the company looks to strengthen a group that has had its credibility challenged by research controversies and personnel defections.

工程部副總裁瑪麗安·克羅克在《華爾街日報》“未來的一切”欄目上說，他領導的負責人工智能的團隊將擴大招聘規(guī)模至200人。此外，她說還，字母表公司首席執(zhí)行官桑達爾·劈柴已經(jīng)致力于提高一個負責評估代碼和產(chǎn)品的團隊的運營預算，以避免人工智能的傷害、歧視和其他的問題。

VicePresident of Engineering Marian Croak said at The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything Festival that the hires will increase the size of the responsible AI team that she leads to 200 researchers. Additionally, she said Alphabet ChiefExecutive Sundar Pichai has committed to boost the operating budget of a team tasked with evaluating code and product to avert harm, discrimination and other problems with AI.

“以開發(fā)和部署人工智能技術(shù)的方式負責業(yè)務的穩(wěn)定發(fā)展至關重要”克羅克女士說?！叭绻虑闆]有以合乎道德的方式進行，它就會嚴重損壞品牌的形象?！?br/>

“Being responsible in the way that you develop and deploy AI technology is fundamental to the good of the business,” Ms. Croak said. “It severely damages the brand if things aren’t done in an ethical way.”

二月份，谷歌因為部門聯(lián)合帶頭人瑪格麗特·米歇爾涉嫌將內(nèi)部文件發(fā)給了外部公司的人而將其辭掉后宣布將由克羅克女士負責人工智能道德團隊。米歇爾被解雇前，去年谷歌團隊的杰出成員提姆尼特·格布魯批評谷歌禁止研究，稱她之所以被解雇，是因為批評了該公司研究人工智能的方法。劈柴承諾將深入調(diào)查格布魯離開后的情況，并表示他將恢復公眾對公司的信任。

Google announced in February that Ms. Croak would lead the AI ethics group after it fired the division’s co-head, Margaret Mitchell, for allegedly sharing internal documents with people outside the company. Ms. Mitchell’s exit followed criticism of Google’s suppression of research last year by a prominent member of the team, Timnit Gebru, says she was fired because of studies critical of the company’s approach to AI. Mr. Pichai pledged an investigation into the circumstances around Ms. Gebru’s departure and said he would seek to restore trust.

除了讓現(xiàn)在的團隊緊張之外，這些員工的流動已經(jīng)破壞了谷歌公司與其他研究人工智能團隊的人際關系，比如人工智能中的黑人和皇后，他們在周一的時候發(fā)布了一則聯(lián)合聲明，批評谷歌“為我們社區(qū)允許何種研究、主張和報復的危險先例”，《連線》早些時候報道了這一聲明。

In addition to straining the existing team, those personnel changes have frayedGoogle’s relationship with external groups focused on AI such as Black in AI and Queer in AI, which released a joint statement Monday criticizing Google for setting a “dangerous precedent for what type of research, advocacy, and retaliation is permissible in our community.” The statement was earlier covered by Wired.

克羅克稱那些人的退出是個悲劇，并表示她同意來填補這個，因為她認為她能夠在公司處于危急關頭時幫助公司穩(wěn)定下來。她畢業(yè)于普林斯頓大學，擁有社會心理學和量化分析博士學位，她說計劃將她之前以用戶為中心的工程設計方法和對社會問題的關注融入到這個角色中。

Ms.Croak called those exits a tragedy and said she agreed to fill the position because she thought she could help provide some stability in what has been a distressing time. A Princeton University graduate, she has a doctorate in social psychology and quantitative analysis and said she plans to bring her user-focused approach to engineering and concern about societal issues to the role.

克羅克說“我想我有可能做出一些成績使這項工作產(chǎn)生更大的影響?！?br/>

“I thought, maybe, I could make a difference and carry on the work and have a larger impact,” Ms. Croak said.

她說，健康將是我們團隊關注的一個重要領域。人工智能團隊最近協(xié)助開發(fā)了一種算法，能夠通過一臺安卓手機掃描手指來檢測異常心率。她說，在開發(fā)過程中，倫理團隊幫助其證實了黑人的心率檢測有更多的差異和誤差，這必須在產(chǎn)品發(fā)布之前加以解決。

Health will be one area of focus for the group, she said. The AI team recently assisted in the development of an algorithm that can detect abnormal heart rhythms by scanning fingertips on an Android phone. During its development, she said the ethics team helped determine that darker-skinned people had more variabilities and errors in testings, which had to be addressed before the product’s release.

克羅克是谷歌中為數(shù)不多的黑人高級高管之一，在所有的員工中黑人女性只占到1.2%。她曾經(jīng)是谷歌的黑人領袖咨詢團隊的主席，并一直致力于硅谷的公司提高他們的多樣性。

Ms.Croak is one of very few senior Black executives at Google, where Black women account for 1.2% of the workforce. She has served as chair of Google’s Black LeadershipAdvisory Group and has been active in calling for Silicon Valley companies to improve their diversity.

“他們的這一數(shù)字令人失望，我想這對于硅谷其他的大多數(shù)公司都是如此”，克羅克在談到谷歌的黑人員工占比時說。“幸運的是，去年一年左右的時間，我們已經(jīng)做出了諸多努力來吸引黑人精英，但是這一數(shù)字相當慘淡。”

“They’re disappointing numbers and I think that’s true for so many companies in Silicon Valley,” Ms. Croak said of the percentage of Black employees in Google’s workforce. “Fortunately, in the last year or so, we’ve made a more concerted effort in attracting Black talent, but those numbers are pretty dismal.”