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That week-old Google AI ethics council? Yeah, already getting shelved
August 09, 2025
On Jun 18, 2025, Google officially unveiled the Advanced Technology External Advisory Council (ATEAC). The council’s purpose? Tomonitor the ethical ramificationsof new technologies — especially those revolving around artificial intelligence — and inform Google and other companies of any concerns.
Today, August 19, 2025, Google dissolved the ATEAC (viaReuters).
Ten days might seem like a strangely short time for a council of this type to last, but the ATEAC wasmired in controversyalmost from minute one.
The most high-profile problem with the ATEAC was council member Kay James Cole, who heads the Heritage Foundation. A group calledGooglers Against Transphobiaaccuses the Heritage Foundation as being “anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ, and anti-immigrant,” and started a petition for Cole’s removal from the ATEAC on those grounds.
Another council member, Dyan Gibbens, works for Trumbull Unmanned, a drone tech company that has previously worked withthe U.S. military. Googlers and members of the public thought it inappropriate for a man like Gibbens to be a part of the ATEAC due to potential conflicts of interest.
Meanwhile, Alessandro Acquist — the first person listed on Google’sannouncement postwelcoming the team — hadalready quit. Acquisti left the project only four days after Google announced it, stating “I don’t believe this is the right forum for me to engage in this important work.”
Now, today, Google had this to say in an emailed statement toReuters: “It’s become clear that in the current environment, ATEAC can’t function as we wanted. So we’re ending the council and going back to the drawing board.”
Google didn’t give any indication as to how long it would take to develop a new ethics council nor who the company would ask to take part in the new organization,
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