Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting

DEI aside, it seems like very few people understand the concept of a core value, or don’t have them.

The new position is problematic to many, myself included, but the really absurd thing is the flip flopping.

Values are great, but apparently you can’t shoot them… that makes about as much sense as the pivot here.

Companies benefit from having values that are allowed to evolve, but not when they change every time the wind blows. What kind of person wants to work somewhere like that? It’s exhausting for one, but it also undermines confidence the leadership has any brain for themselves or vision for the company.

What this really says is: “If you want to work at a company with a vision for products, services, employees and customers… don’t work at Google”.

This is really ironic:

> The third-most-popular question employees asked was why the AI summaries were so bad.

> “The AI summaries of questions on Ask are terrible. Can we go back to answering the questions people actually asked?” it read.

There needs to be a hall of fame for some Google employees. In any company there's always some unfortunate person whose job it is to defend the indefensible, to lie for the team and throw their dignity into the mud. It takes a particular kind of indifference to humanity and a belief that the world will forget and forgive. On this occasion their names are Melonie Parker and Kent Walker. It's a shame they never had the opportunity to learn from colleagues like Timnit Gebru, David Baker, Vinesh Kannan, Christina Curley, Margaret Mitchell and other Googlers who had the balls to do the right thing, denounce the company or quit.

The DEI and pride support was marketing dressed up as HR.