Amazon Faces Lawsuit Alleging Copyright Violation and Discrimination Against AI Researcher
In a bold move, an ex-employee has taken legal action against Amazon, claiming that the company was willing to breach copyright rules in its pursuit of success in generative artificial intelligence (AI). The lawsuit alleges that Amazon not only demoted and fired the ex-AI researcher after discovering her pregnancy but also engaged in wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.
Dr. Viviane Ghaderi, the AI researcher behind the lawsuit, filed the complaint in a Los Angeles court last week. She asserts that she had a flourishing career at Amazon, working on teams such as LLM and Alexa, and receiving several promotions. However, upon returning to work after giving birth, she was unexpectedly demoted and eventually terminated. Dr. Ghaderi claims that this action was a result of her raising concerns about Amazon’s breach of its own copyright rules in AI research, as well as highlighting instances of discrimination and sexism within the company.
According to the complaint, Dr. Ghaderi resumed work on a significant language model project in January 2023, after giving birth. As part of her job, she flagged instances where Amazon’s internal copyright policies were being violated and reported them to the legal team within the company. However, her team director, Andre Styskin, dismissed her concerns and encouraged her to disregard copyright rules in order to improve Alexa’s search results. He even made reference to their competitors, suggesting that they were also engaging in similar practices.
The complaint also reveals that Dr. Ghaderi first joined Amazon as a program manager in 2018 and received positive appraisals during her time there. She briefly left the company to work for a startup in February 2021 but was rehired by Amazon due to her strong relationships with colleagues and excellent performance.
In September 2022, Amazon established a new science team focused on compliance and data quality for Alexa. Dr. Ghaderi was promoted and began reporting to director Danel Marcu. She informed Marcu about her pregnancy, and he instructed her to report to Mahesh Krishnakumar. Dr. Ghaderi claims that Krishnakumar pressured her to delay her maternity leave, which she complied with until she underwent an emergency C-section on November 15, 2022.
Furthermore, Dr. Ghaderi’s lawsuit includes a retaliation charge, alleging that upon her return to work in January 2023, her colleagues informed her that Krishnakumar had contributed very little in her absence, resulting in a backlog of work. She claims that Krishnakumar made harassing and discriminatory comments, such as suggesting she should simply enjoy being a new mother or take it easy because he, too, understands the challenges of being a woman with a newborn.
Dr. Ghaderi’s lawyers have demanded a jury trial and have named Amazon.com Services, Andrey Styskin, and Mahesh Krishnakumar as defendants, among others. A case management conference is scheduled for August 14.
For more information, the original story can be found here, and the complaint document can be accessed here.
