I wonder if something serious happened for him to take a leave of absence. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if, by tomorrow, sexual allegations came out.
Is this seriously the society we live in?
- Maybe he's sick
- Maybe a family member is sick
- Maybe he had a kid
- Maybe he's adopting a kid
- Maybe he's burnt out and wants something longer than what is considered a vacation off
- Maybe they're taking a direction on current research he objects to for any number of reasons
- Maybe he has interests in the UK he has to focus on due to Brexit and needs to step away while he deals with them.
- Maybe he's doing something for Partnership on AI that is going to demand most of his time.
That said, I do agree it's best not to jump to conclusions.
The only quote on the matter is
“Mustafa is taking time out right now after 10 hectic years,”
That does not state he was 'placed on leave' the author of the article claims it, to me the direct quote reads as "he's burnt out and wants to take some time off but plans to come back"
"placed on leave" makes a better headline than "is taking a break" and isn't inflammatory enough to result in any legal action and at worst there will be a "editor's note: we have since learned he has chosen to take time off and have edited the article as such"
> The co-founder of DeepMind, the high-profile artificial intelligence lab owned by Google, has been placed on leave after controversy over some of the projects he led.
So I think we can rule most of your suggestions out (Not implying that his leave is in any way connected to a sex scandal)
I agree tho wild speculation defaulting to a sex scandal is just weird.
- Maybe there is a precedent for this insinuation
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/essential-ceo-andy-r...
According to the article, he was already relegated to a different role in a smaller group within the company. Whichever coded version of a 'leave' or a reason you want to use, if it was either routine or trivial, there would be no need for this article containing selective information to be issued, by a respected source, no less.
> Is this seriously the society we live in?
Unfortunately, yes.