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Tag: Sundar Pichai

  • Google CEO: ‘Things Will Go Wrong’ With Bard AI

    Google CEO: ‘Things Will Go Wrong’ With Bard AI

    Google has finally released its Bard AI to the world, albeit via a waitlist, but Google CEO Sundar Pichai is warning “things will go wrong.”

    Google’s Bard has already had a rough launch. When the company first announced it, the AI flubbed an answer to one of the questions, spooking investors and taking $100 billion off of Alphabet’s stock value. In response, Pichai asked Googlers to test Bard in an effort to improve it, leading to its public release Tuesday.

    While the release is good news for Google, Pichai is warning company employees not to expect perfection.

    “As more people start to use Bard and test its capabilities, they’ll surprise us. Things will go wrong,” Pichai wrote in an internal email to employees Tuesday viewed by CNBC. “But the user feedback is critical to improving the product and the underlying technology.”

    Pichai said Googlers “should be proud of this work and the years of tech breakthroughs that led us here, including our 2017 Transformer research and foundational models such as PalM and BERT.”

    Nonetheless, he cautioned: “Even after all this progress, we’re still in the early stages of a long Al journey.”

    “For now, I’m excited to see how Bard sparks more creativity and curiosity in the people who use it.”

  • Google Releases Bard AI to the Public

    Google Releases Bard AI to the Public

    Google is moving to the next stage of its AI development, releasing it to the public to try out, although using it will require joining a waitlist.

    Bard AI is Google’s attempt to take on Microsoft’s Bing AI, which is based on OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Unfortunately for Google, its initial launch of Bard did not go well, with the AI giving a wrong answer during its public reveal. The flub cost Alphabet $100 billion in stock value.

    Since its botched reveal, Google has been working night and day to improve Bard, with CEO Sundar Pichai asking Googlers to volunteer their time to help improve it.

    It seems Google believes Bard is finally ready for the public, providing a waitlist for people to sign up for access:

    Meet Bard: your creative and helpful collaborator, here to supercharge your imagination, boost your productivity, and bring your ideas to life.

    Bard is an experiment and may give inaccurate or inappropriate responses. You can help make Bard better by leaving feedback. Join the waitlist and try it for yourself.

    You can sign up here.

  • Google CEO Sundar Pichai Accused of Intentionally Deleting Communications

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai Accused of Intentionally Deleting Communications

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai is accused of intentionally deleting company communication in violation of US retention laws.

    Companies in the US are legally required to retain communications if they have reason to believe they may be involved in legal action. The Department of Justice has already accused Google of ‘systematically destroying’ communications related to its antitrust case. The DOJ maintains that Google intentionally had its various chat platforms set to auto-delete messages every 24 hours, despite telling US authorities that it had suspended such operation.

    The DOJ, as well as Epic Games and others, are now accusing Pichai of being involved in the deletion, effectively creating a top-down culture of hiding relevant information, according to FOSS Patents. In the latest claim, the plaintiffs make the following claim:

    “The newly produced Chats reveal a company-wide culture of concealment coming from the very top, including CEO Sundar Pichai, who is a custodian in this case. In one Chat, Mr. Pichai began discussing a substantive topic, and then immediately wrote: ‘[REDACTED]’ Then, nine seconds later, Mr. Pichai [REDACTED]. […] When asked under oath [REDACTED]’ (Id. Ex. 2, Pichai Dep. Tr. 195:7-12.)

    “Like Mr. Pichai, other key Google employees, including those in leadership roles, routinely opted to move from history-on rooms to history-off Chats to hold sensitive conversations, even though they knew they were subject to legal holds. Indeed, they did so even when discussing topics they knew were covered by the litigation holds in order to avoid leaving a record that could be produced in litigation.” (emphasis in original)

    The plaintiffs, including the Utah Attorney General, asked the court to issue an adverse ruling that Google was trying to hide something by deleting the messages. The court had previously indicated that it would not issue a ruling telling jurors they must conclude the deleted messages are indicative of Google intentionally hiding something, but the plaintiffs say this latest revelation provides enough evidence that that is exactly what Google and its executives were trying to do.

    In light of the recently produced documents, anything less than a clear adverse inference instruction — instructing the jury as to what Google did and what the jury should make of it — would reward Google for its years-long, calculated policy of systematically destroying evidence, and would encourage Google to maintain, rather than eradicate, the corporate culture of litigation misconduct it has nurtured for many years.

    If the plaintiffs are able to prevail upon the court and convince it to render such a judgment, it would be catastrophic for Google’s case.

    Eileen Scallen, a professor at the UCLA School of Law, previously told CNBC that an adverse jury instruction would be “very damning.”

    “The one person the jury respects in a courtroom is the trial judge,” Scallen said. “And if the trial judge is telling them you can presume that this was bad news for Google, they’re going to take that to heart.”

  • Laid-Off Googlers Ask CEO to Honor Approved Medical Leave

    Laid-Off Googlers Ask CEO to Honor Approved Medical Leave

    Laid-off Google employees have repeatedly asked Google and CEO Sundar Pichai to honor previously approved medical leave.

    Google did what was once considered unthinkable for the company, laying off thousands of workers for the first time in its history. At the time, Google promised 16 weeks of severance pay plus an additional two weeks for every year an employee worked at the company.

    Unfortunately, for some workers, that still comes out to less time than they were previously promised for medical leave, parental leave, or caregiver’s leave. In early 2022, Google increased the length of various leaves, with parental leave lasting up to 24 months. At the time, Chief People Officer Fiona Cicconi said the company wanted employees to “spend more time with their new baby, look after a sick loved one or take care of their own wellbeing,” according to CNBC.

    Now, faced with losing some of that time they were previously promised, more than 100 employees have formed the “Laid off on Leave” group. The group has already sent three letters to Google executives, including Pichai, asking them to honor their previous promise.

    In the meantime, the layoffs are causing a significant amount of hardship and inconvenience, including individuals losing access to their health care via Google’s on-site One Medical facility the moment the layoffs were announced.

    Still others found out about the reduced leave they’re now facing right when they needed it most.

    “Exactly a week after receiving the text and sharing the exciting news that my maternity leave was approved, I got the already widely talked-about email letting me know that I was among the 12k terminated,” a Google program manager wrote on LinkedIn. “Easy target? Maybe.”

    “On 1/20/23 at 7:05 am while in the hospital bed holding my hours-old newborn I learned that I was part of the #thegolden12K of Googlers who had been laid off,” Kate Howells wrote on LinkedIn. “I was a Googler for 9.5 years.”

    When contacted by CNBC, a Google spokesperson simply pointed to the original layoff announcement.

    “As we shared with impacted employees, we benchmarked this package to ensure the care we’re providing compares favorably with other companies, including for Googlers on leave,” the spokesperson said.

    Needless to say, the company’s actions are not going over well with Googlers and fly in the face of the image the company has maintained for years, in terms of how it treats its employees.

    “When Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced layoffs, he mentioned the company’s commitment to AI three times, but never once mentioned Google’s commitment to accessibility,” the group wrote in an email to CNBC. “This matters deeply because accessibility is part of the company’s actual mission. This clearly calls for a re-centering of priorities. It’s unsurprising that through a bungled demo just days after laying us off, Google showed they’re indeed not leading the way in AI. However, the good news is that an incredible opportunity remains to be an accessibility leader in the treatment of laid off workers.”

  • Google CEO Wants Employees to Spend 2-4 Hours Improving Bard AI

    Google CEO Wants Employees to Spend 2-4 Hours Improving Bard AI

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai is pulling out all the stops to improve the company’s Bard AI, asking employees to spend 2-4 hours helping.

    Bard is Google’s answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The company is playing catch-up to OpenAI and Microsoft, with the latter planning to add ChatGPT’s successor to its Bing search engine. Despite Google’s long history with AI development, Bard’s launch did not go well, with the AI getting an answer wrong in the company’s ad, knocking $100 billion off of Alphabet’s value.

    Pichai is eager to see Bard improve and is recruiting Googlers throughout the company to achieve the goal, according to a memo seen by Business Insider.

    “I know this moment is uncomfortably exciting, and that’s to be expected: the underlying technology is evolving rapidly with so much potential,” Pichai wrote. “The most important thing we can do right now is to focus on building a great product and developing it responsibly.”

    In this memo, Pichai is clearly trying to generate and channel excitement, asking employees to “contribute” their time toward the effort.

    Full memo, courtesy of Insider:

    Hi Googlers,

    Excited to see us opening up Bard for an internal dogfood to help us get it ready for launch. This is an important step as we work to develop the technology responsibly – a big thank you to the Bard team and to everyone who is spending time testing it. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can find instructions on how to participate at go/bard-dogfood.

    I know this moment is uncomfortably exciting, and that’s to be expected: the underlying technology is evolving rapidly with so much potential. This will be a long journey – for everyone, across the field. The most important thing we can do right now is to focus on building a great product and developing it responsibly. That’s why we have thousands of external and internal testers testing Bard’s responses for quality, safety, and groundedness in real-world information. Let’s embrace the challenge and keep iterating, including with users and developers.

    And remember, some of our most successful products were not first to market. They gained momentum because they solved important user needs and were built on deep technical insights. Over time, we earned user trust and more people began to rely on them.

    Here is where we can use your help: Channel the energy and excitement of the moment into our products. Pressure test Bard and make the product better. I would appreciate it if each of you contributed in a deeper way with 2-4 hours of your time. See below for more detail.

    AI has gone through many winters and springs. And now it is blooming again. As an AI-first company, we’ve been working towards this for many years and are ready for it. Let’s stay focused on delivering amazing experiences for our users and launch things we can all be proud of.

    -Sundar

  • AppSheet Founder: Google ‘Slowly Ceased to Function’

    AppSheet Founder: Google ‘Slowly Ceased to Function’

    AppSheet founder Praveen Seshadri, who sold his company to Google Cloud in 2020, has harsh words for the tech giant.

    Seshadri posted a blog on Medium outlining his experience with Google after the company acquired his AppSheet. The founder seems to confirm what many investors and analysts have feared, painting a picture of a company that is floundering and has lost much of what made it special:

    I joined Google just before the pandemic when the company I had co-founded, AppSheet, was acquired by Google Cloud. The acquiring team and executives welcomed us and treated us well. We joined with great enthusiasm and commitment to integrate AppSheet into Google and make it a success. Yet, now at the expiry of my three year mandatory retention period, I have left Google understanding how a once-great company has slowly ceased to function.

    Seshadri then goes on to highlight the crossroads Google is at as Microsoft and its OpenAI-powered Bing threaten the company’s search dominance:

    It is a fragile moment for Google with the pressure from OpenAI + Microsoft. Most people view this challenge along the technology axis, although there is now the gnawing suspicion that it might be a symptom of some deeper malaise. The recent layoffs have caused angst within the company as many employees view this as a failure of management or a surrender to activist investors. In a way, this reflects a general lack of self-awareness across both management and employees.

    Read More: Google Won the Search Wars, but Can It Win the AI Search Wars?

    Ultimately, Seshadri boils Google’s issues down to four specific things:

    (1) no mission, (2) no urgency, (3) delusions of exceptionalism, (4) mismanagement.

    Interestingly, Seshadri makes a similar observation to the one we made here at WPN when we compared Microsoft and Google and drew the conclusion that Google has become risk-averse compared to its Redmond rival:

    Google can no longer seek success by avoiding risk. The path forward has to start with culture change and that has to start at the very top. Google’s senior executives should look at what Satya Nadella did at Microsoft and execute a similar playbook.

    Seshadri’s blog is a lengthy one, detailing far more than we can cover in this article. Nonetheless, it’s an outstanding read and illustrates why it increasingly seems that Google is in real trouble.

  • Google CEO Under Fire for ‘Rushed, Botched’ AI Reveal

    Google CEO Under Fire for ‘Rushed, Botched’ AI Reveal

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai is under fire from employees over how the company has handled its response to Microsoft’s AI.

    Microsoft unveiled a version of Bing that is powered by an updated version of the tech behind ChatGPT, bringing the power of artificial intelligence to web search. When ChatGPT first burst onto the scene, Google was caught off guard and has been scrambling to play catchup, unveiling its Bard AI in an effort to remain competitive.

    Unfortunately for the company, the launch did not go well. Bard got one of the questions wrong in the company’s ad, and one of the presenters at the big reveal forgot to bring a phone that was crucial to the demo, according to CNBC.

    The missteps are not going over well with Google employees, many of whom have been taking to Memegen, the company’s internal forum, to complain. While employees often post memes on the forum to goodnaturedly poke fun at the company, many of the responses to Google’s AI efforts took a more serious tone.

    “Dear Sundar, the Bard launch and the layoffs were rushed, botched, and myopic,” read one meme, accompanied by a serious picture of Pichai. “Please return to taking a long-term outlook.” The post received many upvotes.

    “Sundar, and leadership, deserve a Perf NI,” read another popular meme, referencing the lowest employment performance review category. “They are being comically short sighted and un-Googlely in their pursuit of ‘sharpening focus.’”

    One Googler even pointed out that the company’s handling of the unveil was confirming the industry’s fears that Google has lost its way and was caught flatfooted.

    “Rushing Bard to market in a panic validated the market’s fear about us,” read a highly-rated meme.

    Google is clearly in a position it is not used to being in, forced to play from behind and overcome a competitor’s technical advantage. Unfortunately, how Pichai and company have responded is not putting anyone’s fears to rest about the company’s ability to overcome this existential threat to its core business.

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently commented that Microsoft ‘made Google dance,’ but he may not have realized just how uncomfortable a dance it is.

  • Sergey Brin Is Coding at Google Again in ‘Code Red’ AI Effort

    Sergey Brin Is Coding at Google Again in ‘Code Red’ AI Effort

    After years of absence, Sergey Brin is once again back at Google and has just submitted his first code request.

    Google is scrambling to come up with an answer to ChatGPT and other conversational AI tech, which many see as an existential threat to the company’s search business. CEO Sundar Pichai issued a “code red,” reorganizing labor in an effort to come up with an answer. The company also called back Larry Page and Sergey Brin to help brainstorm and come up with solutions.

    According to Forbes, it appears Brin may be getting comfortable in his old digs and has submitted his first code request since being back. The request was just a two line change to have his username added to a configuration file.

    It appears employees are eager to work with Brin, with Forbes’ source saying several dozen engineers approved the request, including some from outside the team.

  • Major Google Investor Wants Company to Lay Off 30,000

    Major Google Investor Wants Company to Lay Off 30,000

    A major Google investor doesn’t believe the company’s 12,000 job cuts are enough and is calling for 30,000 instead.

    Sir Christopher Hohn runs The Children’s Investment Fund. He was already a proponent of layoffs, raising the possibility to Google leaders in November, according to The Register.

    In an open letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Hohn makes the case that the company’s recently announced layoffs don’t go far enough.

    “The decision to cut 12,000 jobs is a step in the right direction, but it does not even reverse the very strong headcount growth of 2022,” he writes. “Ultimately management will need to go further.”

    “I believe that management should aim to reduce headcount to around 150,000, which is in line with Alphabet’s headcount at the end of 2021. This would require a total headcount reduction in the order of 20%,” he added.

    Interestingly, Hohn takes aim at “excessive employee compensation” as well, saying the median salary at Alphabet was almost $300,000 in 2021, with the average being even higher.

    That specific criticism is — shall we say — “interesting,” coming from an individual who reportedly paid himself a whopping $690 million salary, or $1.8 million per day, in 2022.

  • Engineer Learned He Was Laid Off When Google Ghosted Him

    Engineer Learned He Was Laid Off When Google Ghosted Him

    A Google engineer of more than 16 years only learned he had been laid off when his company account was deactivated.

    Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced the “difficult decision” to lay off some 12,000 workers last week. Interestingly, when making the announcement, Pichai said US-based employees had already been notified. For at least one engineer, however, that “notification” left much to be desired.

    Engineering Manager Justin Moore, who worked at the company for 16.5 years, says on LinkedIn that he learned he was one of the laid-off employees when his company account was deactivated in the middle of the night:

    So after over 16.5 years at Google, I appear to have been let go via an automated account deactivation at 3am this morning as one of the lucky 12,000. I don’t have any other information, as I haven’t received any of the other communications the boilerplate “you’ve been let go” website (which I now also can’t access) said I should receive.

    Moore walked away from the experience with a vital life lesson, one he outlines in his post:

    This also just drives home that work is not your life, and employers — especially big, faceless ones like Google — see you as 100% disposable. Live life, not work.

    While it’s nice to see Moore maintaining a positive attitude, it’s hard to understand how or why his termination was handled the way it was. Any employee who has worked for a company for more than 16 years deserves to be properly notified when their services are not longer required — rather than being ghosted in the middle of the night.

  • Alphabet CEO Announces ‘Difficult Decision’ to Lay Off 12,000

    Alphabet CEO Announces ‘Difficult Decision’ to Lay Off 12,000

    Google parent Alphabet has now firmly joined the ranks of companies laying off employees, with plans to cut 12,000 jobs.

    Two of Alphabet’s “Other Bets” companies, Intrinsic and Verily, announced layoffs last week, but today the company announced mass layoffs at its core: Google and Alphabet. In an email, which later became a blog post, CEO Sundar Pichai said the company would be laying off some 12,000 employees, surpassing both Microsoft and Meta’s numbers.

    In his memo to employees, Pichai called the move “a difficult decision to set us up for the future.”

    I have some difficult news to share. We’ve decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. We’ve already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices.

    This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with. I’m deeply sorry for that. The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.

    Like many other executives announcing layoffs, Pichai blamed it on a changed economic reality from the one that led to the frenzied hiring of the past couple of years.

    Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.

    Interestingly, Pichai said the layoffs were in response to a review of the company’s personnel and roles in an effort to identify “people and roles are aligned with our highest priorities as a company.” This statement seems to confirm fears Googlers had in December that new evaluation methods were being used as a prelude to layoffs.

    Pichai says impacted US employees have already been notified, although notifying international employees will take longer because of local laws. In the meantime, employees will continue to be paid during the notification period, a minimum of 60 days.

    Alphabet is also offering a severance package that starts at 16 weeks’ pay, plus an additional two weeks for every year at the company. The company will also accelerate a minimum of 16 weeks GSU vesting.

    The company also plans to pay all 2022 bonuses and vacation time and provide six months of healthcare, job placements, and immigration assistance.

    Pichai tried to reassure employees that the company was well-positioned for the future, despite the layoffs.

    All this work is a continuation of the “healthy disregard for the impossible” that’s been core to our culture from the beginning. When I look around Google today, I see that same spirit and energy driving our efforts. That’s why I remain optimistic about our ability to deliver on our mission, even on our toughest days. Today is certainly one of them.

    Regardless of how Pichai spins it, the fact remains that these layoffs are a major black mark on Alphabet and Google’s reputation. The company has long prided itself on never laying people off. With this announcement, however, the company has managed to lay off more employees than any other company in the last year except Amazon.

    Future tech talent looking for a company to spend their career at may well remember this.

  • Google Reorganizing Labor to Answer ChatGPT

    Google Reorganizing Labor to Answer ChatGPT

    Google has issued a “code red” and is reorganizing labor in response to the traction ChatGPT has gained.

    ChatGPT is an AI-driven chatbot released by OpenAI. The chatbot has gained considerable traction and praise, while still receiving criticism for failing in many of the same ways as previous chatbots.

    Google is one company that is trying to find an answer. When ChatGPT gained traction, the company held an all-hands meeting to address employee concerns that Google was being upstaged and could lose its competitive edge. Executives emphasized their desire to proceed slowly, lest the company’s reputation be hurt by less than stellar results.

    According to Business Insider, Google appears to be taking significant steps to catch up. CEO Sundar Pichai has been involved in meetings that have resulted in a reorganization of labor. Personnel in Google’s research, Trust and Safety division are being tasked with assisting in AI development. Other divisions have been similarly involved.

    The company will have to strike a fine balance between protecting the integrity of its search business while simultaneously keeping up with the broader AI industry.

    “This really strikes a need that people seem to have but it’s also important to realize these models have certain type of issues,” Google AI head Jeff Dean said in the initial all-hands meeting.

  • Google Moving Slowly on AI Chatbots Over ‘Reputational Risk’

    Google Moving Slowly on AI Chatbots Over ‘Reputational Risk’

    Amid the ruckus over OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google execs have made it clear they are in no hurry to jump on the chatbot bandwagon.

    ChatGPT is one of OpenAI’s most well-known innovations and has gained widespread recognition. According to CNBC, Google employees expressed concerns about ChatGPT, especially given Microsoft’s backing of OpenAI. Given Google’s background in AI, employees were concerned the company could be falling behind.

    “Is this a missed opportunity for Google, considering we’ve had Lamda for a while?” read one top-rated question at a company all-hands meeting.

    In response to, CEO Sundar Pichai and Google AI head Jeff Dean emphasized that Google already has similar capabilities as OpenAI and ChatGPT, but that the company needed to be extra careful since so many people rely on Google for quality answers.

    “This really strikes a need that people seem to have but it’s also important to realize these models have certain type of issues,” Dean said

    Interestingly, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seemed to endorse Google’s caution, admitting ChatGPT was not production-ready.

  • Google’s Profits Just Tanked

    Google’s Profits Just Tanked

    Google turned in its quarterly results, posting a massive decline in profits year-over-year.

    Google reported $69.1 billion in revenue for the quarter. While this was a 6% increase over the year-ago quarter, it pales in comparison to that quarter’s 41% growth rate.

    “We’re sharpening our focus on a clear set of product and business priorities,” said Sundar Pichai, Alphabet CEO. “Product announcements we’ve made in just the past month alone have shown that very clearly, including significant improvements to both Search and Cloud, powered by AI, and new ways to monetize YouTube Shorts. We are focused on both investing responsibly for the long term and being responsive to the economic environment.”

    “Our third quarter revenues were $69.1 billion, up 6% versus last year or up 11% on a constant currency basis,” said Ruth Porat, Alphabet CFO. “Financial results for the third quarter reflect healthy fundamental growth in Search and momentum in Cloud, while affected by foreign exchange. We’re working to realign resources to fuel our highest growth priorities.”

    Interestingly, outside of its core ad business, there weren’t too many bright spots. Google Cloud was one of the only ones, with its revenue growing 38% to come in just under $6.9 billion. At the same time, however, the division’s losses widened from $644 million to $699 million.

    Despite Google Cloud impressive growth, some experts believe it’s not enough, given the company’s third-place position in the market.

    “Google has to grow more than 50% a year to play catch up. Overall cloud market has a lot of room for growth, and this is the savior for Microsoft and Amazon earnings,” Ray Wang, principal analyst at Constellation Research, told CIO.

    Wang wasn’t alone in that sober evaluation.

    “Google’s cloud results (38% growth) are better than Microsoft’s Cloud growth of 20%. But with a small base compared to Microsoft and AWS, the growth expectations are higher from Google Cloud,” said Pareekh Jain, CEO of EIIRTrend & Pareekh Consulting. “Google Cloud’s growth rate though slowing down should be higher than AWS and Microsoft. It should capitalize on growth opportunities in underpenetrated geographies. It should also become profitable in the coming quarters, taking some hard decisions like shutting down Google Cloud IoT.”

  • Google Emails Indict the Company in Chrome Incognito Trial

    Google Emails Indict the Company in Chrome Incognito Trial

    Google’s legal defense in a privacy lawsuit has taken a major hit thanks to emails proving the company knowingly tracked user data.

    Google is being sued over claims it continues to track Chrome browser users even when Incognito mode is enabled. Incognito mode is supposed to provide users with a measure of privacy and prevent Google from tracking their browsing when activated. The plaintiffs are seeking class action status, saying Google knowingly continued tracking users when Incognito was active.

    Plaintiffs appear to have a fairly strong case based on internal emails among Google executives, according to Bloomberg.

    “Make Incognito Mode truly private,” marketing chief Lorraine Twohill wrote in an email to CEO Sundar Pichai, highlighting ways the company could gain user trust. “We are limited in how strongly we can market Incognito because it’s not truly private, thus requiring really fuzzy, hedging language that is almost more damaging.”

    Read more: Google CEO Sundar Pichai Will Not Be Questioned in Privacy Suit

    As if acknowledging Incognito mode is ineffective wasn’t bad enough, the browser’s lack of privacy was even the topic of jokes within the company.

    “We need to stop calling it Incognito and stop using a Spy Guy icon,” one engineer wrote in a 2018 chat with other Google Chrome engineers.

    In response, another engineer posted a link to a “Simpsons” cartoon character called “Guy Incognito.”

    “Regardless of the name, the Incognito icon should have always been” Guy Incognito, the employee wrote. “Which also accurately conveys the level of privacy it provides.”

    Google, for its part, argues that users knew what they signed up for.

    “Incognito mode offers users a private browsing experience, and we’ve been clear about how it works and what it does, whereas the plaintiffs in this case have purposely mischaracterized our statements,” spokesman Jose Castaneda said in an email to Bloomberg.

    Unfortunately for the company, its own internal communication paints a picture that it knew users were confused about how Incognito mode did and did not work.

    At this point, it’s hard to imagine a judge not approving the class action status and even harder to imagine Google prevailing in court.

  • Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai Will Not Be Questioned in Privacy Suit

    Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai Will Not Be Questioned in Privacy Suit

    Google scored a major victory in the privacy lawsuit it is facing in California, with a judge ruling that Sundar Pichai cannot be questioned.

    Google is facing a legal challenge over its Chrome browser’s Incognito mode. Incognito mode is supposed to prevent Google from collecting data about the user’s web browsing, but the plaintiffs allege that the company continued data collection even when the mode was activated.

    According to Reuters, the plaintiffs wanted to question Pichai, but the judged ruled that his position as a high-ranking officer of the company would likely preclude him from having “unique knowledge” of the situation. The issue goes to the “apex doctrine,” where plaintiffs have an uphill battle to prove that those at the very top of a company know enough about day-to-day operations to justify questioning them.

    “The challenge presented by the apex doctrine is whether a senior executive has relevant information to a particular subject,” US Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen wrote, saying that Chrome’s Incognito mode was already the “subject of extensive discovery and testimony in this action.”

  • Google CEO Under Fire by Employees Upset at Being ‘Nickel-and-Dimed’

    Google CEO Under Fire by Employees Upset at Being ‘Nickel-and-Dimed’

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai faced the ire of Google employees over the company’s cost-saving measures.

    Like many companies in the tech industry, Google has been slowing hiring, cutting costs, and has left the door open to layoffs over economic fears. According to CNBC, employees are not impressed with the company’s actions and made that clear to Pichai in an all-hands meeting this week.

    One of the more popular questions Pichai was asked was why the company is “nickel-and-diming” employees when “Google has record profits and huge cash reserves.” The “nickel-and-diming” was a reference to the company cutting travel, swag, and entertainment budgets.

    “How do I say it?” Pichai responded. “Look, I hope all of you are reading the news, externally. The fact that you know, we are being a bit more responsible through one of the toughest macroeconomic conditions underway in the past decade, I think it’s important that as a company, we pull together to get through moments like this.”

    Pichai later doubled down on his response, making the point that more money isn’t always needed to have fun.

    “I remember when Google was small and scrappy,” he added. “Fun didn’t always — we shouldn’t always equate fun with money. I think you can walk into a hard-working startup and people may be having fun and it shouldn’t always equate to money.”

    Despite Pichai’s responses, CNBC says the meeting was rather heated. The CEO didn’t help his case when he dodged questions about trimming executive compensation as a way to cut costs, showing that employees clearly believe they’re being asked to make sacrifices that executives are immune to.

  • Google Kills the Pixelbook, Disbands the Team

    Google Kills the Pixelbook, Disbands the Team

    Google’s Pixelbook appears to be the latest victim of Google’s cost-saving measures, with the next release reportedly canceled and the team disbanded.

    Google’s Pixelbook was a high-end Chromebook that helped showcase the company’s Chrome OS. Despite its popularity, the company appears to have killed off the next generation — expected next year — and disbanded the team, according to The Verge.

    Like many companies, Google has been looking for ways to cut costs as the economy slows. CEO Sundar Pichai made it clear in mid-July that the company would be looking for areas to streamline its investments and would be pausing some projects. Despite the Pixelbook apparently being one of those projects, Google is not confirming the reports yet.

    “Google doesn’t share future product plans or personnel information; however, we are committed to building and supporting a portfolio of Google products that are innovative and helpful for our users,” Laura Breen, a communications manager at Google, told The Verge. “In regards to our people, in times where we do shift priorities we work to transition team members across devices and services.”

    It’s also possible that Google doesn’t see the need to be in the Chromebook market like it once did. As more manufacturers have begun manufacturing quality models, Google’s presence is not really necessary to help the category succeed.

    “What’s nice about the category is that it has matured,” Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh told the outlet. “You can expect them to last a long time.”

  • Layoffs Possible As Google CEO Wants ‘Company 20% More Productive’

    Layoffs Possible As Google CEO Wants ‘Company 20% More Productive’

    Google employees could face layoffs in the near future if recent remarks by CEO Sundar Pichai are any indication.

    Like other companies, Google has been adapting to a changing economy. The company has already scaled back hiring and taken other measures to improve efficiency, including Pichai asking employees to be more productive and look for ways to “stay entrepreneurial.”

    According to CNBC, Pichai is shedding light on some of the challenges Google is facing, as well as some of the possible solutions.

    “The more we try to understand the macroeconomic, we feel very uncertain about it,” Pichai said Tuesday at the Code Conference in Los Angeles. “The macroeconomic performance is correlated to ad spend, consumer spend and so on,” he added.

    “We want to make sure as a company, when you have fewer resources than before, you are prioritizing all the right things to be working on and your employees are really productive that they can actually have impact on the things they’re working on so that’s what we are spending our time on.”

    When pressed for specifics by host Kara Swisher, Pichai seemed to take aim at Google’s growing bureaucracy, which has been blamed for slower decision-making.

    “Across everything we do, we can be slower to make decisions,” Pichai. “You look at it end-to-end and figure out how to make the company 20% more productive.”

    “Sometimes there are areas to make progress [where] you have three people making decisions, understanding that and bringing it down to two or one improves efficiency by 20%,” he added.

    Pichai’s response is one of the strongest indications yet that Google may join other Big Tech companies in laying off workers.

  • Google CEO Says Employee Productivity Must Improve, Warns of ‘Challenging Environment’

    Google CEO Says Employee Productivity Must Improve, Warns of ‘Challenging Environment’

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai has issued a warning to employees, asking them to improve productivity and focus.

    As fears of a recession mount, companies are taking measures to prepare and insulate themselves. Pichai is warning Google employees that the company’s productivity is not at the level it should be, given the size of the company.

    According to CNBC, the statements were made at an all-hands meeting last Wednesday where Pichai solicited feedback from employees on ways the company can improve.

    “I wanted to give some additional context following our earnings results, and ask for your help as well,” Pichai said, referring to the company’s second-quarter earnings report. “It’s clear we are facing a challenging macro environment with more uncertainty ahead.””

    “There are real concerns that our productivity as a whole is not where it needs to be for the head count we have,” he added. Pichai then asked employees to help “create a culture that is more mission-focused, more focused on our products, more customer focused. We should think about how we can minimize distractions and really raise the bar on both product excellence and productivity.”

    Read more: Google Pauses Hiring for Two Weeks

    As one of the proposed measures to increase productivity, Pichai introduced a “Simplicity Sprint,” borrowing a term from software development wherein a team works to accomplish specific tasks in a set amount of time. Pichai said employees could submit ideas through August 15, ideas that could be used to increase focus and help streamline the company’s efforts.

    Some of the questions include, “What would help you work with greater clarity and efficiency to serve our users and customers? Where should we remove speed bumps to get to better results faster? How do we eliminate waste and stay entrepreneurial and focused as we grow?”

    CNBC reports there were concerns raised at the meeting about whether the company has plans to lay employees off. The fears were largely driven by comments Pichai made in mid-July when he said the company would be streamlining its investments, looking for areas of overlap, and pausing work on some projects.

    When asked whether the company planned to lay off employees, Pichai turned to Fiona Cicconi, Google’s Chief People Officer.

    “We’re asking teams to be more focused and efficient and we’re working out what that means as a company as well,” Cicconi said. “Even though we can’t be sure of the economy in the future, we’re not currently looking to reduce Google’s overall workforce.”

    “I really get that there is some anxiety around this based on what we’re hearing from other companies and what they’re doing and as Sundar mentioned, we’re still hiring for critical roles,” Cicconi added.

    It’s unclear whether employees were reassured by that answer since it didn’t rule out the possibility of layoffs at a future point.

  • Google Cloud Will Open First Mexico Region

    Google Cloud Will Open First Mexico Region

    Google Cloud is planning to open its first Mexico region, just days after Oracle did the the same.

    Cloud providers establish data centers in regions to help provide customers faster, more reliable access to their services. Google is now adding a Mexico region, which will be its 35th worldwide.

    “The cloud region in Mexico will unlock new possibilities for the use of cloud technologies by public sector organizations in the country. Different public entities would benefit from interoperating in an efficient and secure way, facilitating access to computing power and information technologies. It is important to mention that the computer developments in Mexico are highly specialized so they can become important references for other Spanish-speaking countries,” stated Dr. Juan Carlos Sarmiento Tovilla, Director General of Information Systems at the Federal Court of Administrative Justice.

    Google’s move comes roughly a month after CEO Sundar Pichai announced the company’s plans to invest $1.2 billion in Latin America.