--- title: "After Saying He Wanted an Open Algorithm, Elon Musk Just Fired the Twitter Team Responsible for Doing Just That" description: "Musk said that he wanted Twitter to have an open algorithm. He just fired the \"Ethical AI\" team responsible for doing just that." date: "2022-11-04" modified: "2022-11-04" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-twitter-ethical-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "algorithms" - "artificial intelligence" - "elon musk" - "machine learning" - "twitter" --- # After Saying He Wanted an Open Algorithm, Elon Musk Just Fired the Twitter Team Responsible for Doing Just That ![Musk said that he wanted Twitter to have an open algorithm. He just fired the "Ethical AI" team responsible for doing just that.]() *\Image: Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images\* Twitter CEO Elon Musk has started making major cuts to the company's operations, in an [apparently desperate]() effort to bring costs down. Aside from [gutting the company's executive suite]() and [dissolving its board](), the billionaire CEO has started [culling a significant number of employees]() as well, locking them out of their accounts unannounced. As [*Wired* reports](), the company's "Ethical AI" team has been caught by the purge. That's especially unfortunate, given that Musk has argued Twitter's algorithm should be more transparent — something the team was working on right up until being fired wholesale. In short, it's exactly the kind of short-sighted action we've come to expect from Musk, who has taken over Twitter's operations like a bull in a china shop. Rumman Chowdhury, director of the Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability (META) team at Twitter, was let go as part of Friday's mass layoffs. But not much love was lost, given the company's controversial new CEO. "Imagine feeling relief that you’re the one on the receiving end of the Thanos snap," she [wrote](). The team was tasked with researching any political biases that might be unfairly targeting certain groups. "We were told, in no uncertain terms, not to rock the boat," Chowdhury told *Wired* earlier this week, prior to the layoffs. Joan Deitchman, who was the unit's senior manager, revealed that the entire team had been let go. "Yep, the team is gone," Deitchman [wrote today](). "The team that was researching and pushing for algorithmic transparency and algorithmic choice." "The team that was inventing and building ethical AI tooling and methodologies," she added. "All that is gone." It's a big loss in the field. "The META team was one of the only good case studies of a tech company running an AI ethics group that interacts with the public and academia with substantial credibility," Ali Alkhatib, director of the Center for Applied Data Ethics at the University of San Francisco, told *Wired*. That kind of progressive mindset on ethical use of machine learning appears to be the very last thing on Musk's mind right now. The billionaire has been busy [lashing out at advertisers]() for abandoning him after making brash remarks and [spreading baseless conspiracy theories](). It's especially ironic considering the amount of time and thought Musk has committed to making algorithms more transparent. In March, roughly a month before [announcing his bid]() to buy the company, Musk [argued]() that "the algorithm needs to be open source." Given what has gone down this week, the billionaire is clearly gunning for a scorched Earth approach that will likely keep Twitter's operations in a tailspin for a while longer. Without the backing of advertisers, Twitter will have an even steeper financial hill to climb. Whether Musk's own efforts to build a radically transparent and fair social media platform that caters to both sides of the aisle will ever amount to anything close to what this particular team was working on remains to be seen. But given where we are right now, it's difficult to imagine. **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk Has Fired Twitter’s ‘Ethical AI’ Team]() \[*Wired*\] **More on the saga:** *[Elon Musk Melts Down as Advertisers Flee Twitter Chaos]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()