Google is pulling the plug on a council to examine ethics issues in artificial intelligence (AI) and “going back to the drawing board” just a week after it launched the initiative.

The sudden dissolution of the Advanced Technology External Advisory Council (ATEAC) comes after controversy regarding the suitability of its board members, according to news site Vox, which was first to report the collapse of the board.

The eight-member panel of independent experts had been intended to help the search giant implement principles to address some of the company’s most complex challenges to do with, AI, machine learning and facial recognition and ethics.

It was envisaged that the board would meet four times this year, beginning this month, before publishing a report into key principles for the end of 2019.

However, following resistance from staff members over the composition of the council, Google announced that it was scrapping the idea.

In an emailed statement, a spokesman for Google said: “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.

“We’ll continue to be responsible in our work on the important issues that AI raises, and will find different ways of getting outside opinions on these topics.”

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