Tech giant Meta is reportedly disbanding its responsible AI team and refocusing it on its generative AI work. Internal memo received from The information revealed those 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 Meta spokesperson said Reuters that the restructuring aims to “bring staff closer to core product and technology development”. Additionally, other team members will be moved to work on Meta’s AI infrastructure.
The Responsible AI Team was created in 2019 to monitor Meta AI training issues. This includes ensuring the AI is trained with a diverse set of data and preventing moderation issues for platforms like Facebook. However, reports from Business Insider earlier this year, the Responsible AI team was a “shell team” with little autonomy and excessive bureaucratic regulation.
With AI regulation still in its infancy, Meta’s move is troubling given that the company has been vocal about responsible AI development in the past. However, problems with the moderation of Meta platforms have caused civil rights abuses and translation bias issues to generate WhatsApp sticker images and Instagram profile bios.
