According to reports, tech giant Meta is disbanding its Responsible AI team and shifting them towards its generative AI work. An internal memo obtained by The Information revealed these plans late Saturday night.
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The internal document cited in the report states that most of the Responsible AI team will be moved to generative AI. A spokesperson for Meta told Reuters that the restructuring is meant to “bring the staff closer to the development of core products and technologies.” Additionally, other team members will be moved to work on Meta’s AI infrastructure.
The Responsible AI team was created in 2019 with the goal of monitoring problems in the training of Meta’s AI. This included making sure the AI was trained with a diverse dataset and preventing moderation issues for platforms like Facebook. However, reports from Business Insider earlier this year found the Responsible AI team to be a “shell of team” with little autonomy and excessive bureaucratic regulation.
With AI regulation still in its infancy, the move by Meta is concerning considering the company has, in the past, been vocal about developing AI responsibly. Despite this, moderation issues for Meta platforms have incited civil rights abuses and biased translation issues for sticker image generation on WhatsApp and profile bios on Instagram.
