Recently, Google updated its official website of its "Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Human-Intrinsic Technology (RAI-HCT)" team, which has attracted widespread attention. It is worth noting that the expressions originally related to "diversity" and "fairness" on this page were quietly deleted. Previously, the team used words such as “marginalized communities,” “diverse,” “underrepresented groups,” and “equality,” to emphasize its efforts in AI security, equity, and interpretability.
After this update, these specific descriptive words have been replaced with more vague words, such as using "all", "diverse" and "number" instead of "diverse" expressions. Google has not yet made an official response to this change, and the outside world is full of speculation and discussion on the reasons for the move.
The change was first discovered by the oversight organization's Midas project. In fact, before that, Google had removed similar statements from its funding page for the Founders Fund. It is worth mentioning that in February this year, Google announced that it would cancel its diversified recruitment targets and conduct a comprehensive review of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) projects.
This is not an isolated case for Google. In recent years, many large technology companies have withdrawn DEI-related initiatives, especially after the Trump administration characterized these measures as "illegal", the adjustments to relevant policies have attracted more attention. In addition to Google, Amazon and Meta have also successively withdrawn policies related to diversity and equity. Meanwhile, OpenAI recently removed the statements about diversity and inclusion from its recruitment practice webpage. However, Apple has taken the opposite position, firmly resisting shareholder proposals to terminate its DEI project.
Many large tech companies, including Google, have contracted with federal agencies, which has led to widespread discussion on their strategy adjustments in diversity and equity. Google's move to adjust web content this time reflects the current complex attitude towards diversity and equity issues and the ever-changing policy environment in the technology industry.
Key points: Google updated its artificial intelligence team web page and deleted the relevant expressions of "diversity" and "fairness". This change has attracted attention from the outside world and has not received an official response from Google. Many technology companies such as Amazon and Meta have also withdrawn relevant DEI policies to reflect trend changes in the industry.