Microsoft’s recent layoff of its entire ethics and society team, responsible for guiding AI innovation towards ethical, responsible, and sustainable outcomes, has raised concerns about the company’s commitment to ensuring its product design and AI principles are closely intertwined.

This move comes as Microsoft invests billions more dollars into its partnership with OpenAI, the startup behind AI systems like ChatGPT and DALL-E 2. The elimination of the team has left Microsoft’s Office of Responsible AI (ORA) to set rules for responsible AI through governance and public policy work, while the team responsible for ensuring Microsoft’s responsible AI principles are reflected in the design of its products is no longer present.

The decision to prioritize AI products’ speedy release and market share gains over socially responsible thinking has been criticized by members of the ethics and society team who were let go. This raises questions about the long-term impacts of AI on society and the need for ethical considerations in AI development.

Manish