New Magazin Saleb Opinion

Over recent years, we have seen remarkable progress in AI’s ability to confront new problems and help solve old ones. Advancing these efforts was one reason we set up the Google Research India lab in 2019, with a particular emphasis on AI research that could make a positive social impact. It’s also why we've supported nonprofit organizations through the Google AI Impact Challenge . Working in partnership with Google.org and Google’s University Relations program, our goal is to help academics and nonprofits develop AI techniques that can improve people’s lives — especially in underserved communities that haven’t yet benefited from advances in AI. We reported on the impact of six such projects in 2020. And today, we’re sharing 30 new projects that will receive funding and support as part of our AI for Social Good program .  During the application process, Googlers arranged workshops involving more than 150 teams to discuss potential projects. Following the workshop meetings...

Illustration by   Rose Jaffe When Cassie Areff was a kid, she enjoyed spending time coding with her dad. "I liked making mini games in Scratch , and then I transitioned into programming my computer to play card games against me." Fast forward to today, Cassie is part of a cohort of students that just completed Google's Code Next, a free computer science education program for Black and Latinx high schoolers.  We recently took some time to talk to Cassie, as well as two other student engineers — Jelyse Williams and BrookeLynn Acevedo — to learn more about their experiences as coders and their plans for the future. What is it like being a young woman in coding? BrookeLynn:  It's both isolating and empowering. It can be discouraging to look around and see you’re one of the only women — or the only woman — in the room. As you become more experienced, the number of women around you goes down. But it’s also something I’m proud of. I’m helping to close the gender gap i...

When I first moved to the United States from India, I visited Chicago’s Northalsted area (also known as “Boystown”), an LGBTQ+ neighborhood. I was still in the process of coming out, and I was amazed to see so many businesses welcoming the LGBTQ+ community and building a space that felt safe. For the first time, I felt comfortable in my skin as a gay man and experienced the feeling of truly belonging. This past year, LGBTQ+ businesses and service organizations — that are at the heart of LGBTQ+ life — were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. These businesses are more than just bars, restaurants, bookstores, salons or health clinics. They’re places of validation where LGBTQ+ folks are able to gather, find community, commiserate in tough times and celebrate the good times.  That’s why Google is continuing to show up year-round with dedicated resources to help small and medium-sized businesses — owned by or serving the LGBTQ+ community — on their road to recovery.  N...

Finding a safe and welcoming space to create a bespoke outfit can be really challenging, especially when you have your own vision for your wedding day or another special occasion. While traditional tailors are great, they can sometimes fall short for people who don’t want the usual three-piece suit or long trailing dress.  But luckily, there’s Orhan Kaplan.  Orhan London Tailoring is an East-London based business that has carved a niche through its bespoke LGBTQ+ tailoring service. Having founded the business with his wife, Denise, Orhan soon discovered a strong unmet demand within the LGBTQ+ community from people who wanted to choose something other than a standard wedding dress. Recognising the needs of the community has helped shape their product offering, and celebrating their customers’ individuality has made women’s suits and non-binary tailoring a key part of their business.  As a tailoring and alterations business, being visible and accessible is fundament...

2020 was a difficult year for the travel and tourism sector, but it was also a year of learning how to use technology to better understand and respond to the evolving needs of consumers. Our Google for Startups Growth Academy: TravelTech program in Spain, where the travel industry accounts for 12% of the national GDP, supported travel startups with digital skills and tools to build resilience for their businesses, so they can overcome challenges brought by travel restrictions. It also shows them how to use data to adapt their product offerings to match the changing needs of travelers. The program included sessions with Google mentors and travel industry experts; 90% of these startups reporting revenue growth and an increase in recruiting, and expanding their business to new international markets.  Here are four lessons 12 travel and tourism startups learned from the program. 1. Go with the flow. If there is one thing that defines a startup, it is the ability to adapt, ...

Accessing timely, relevant and reliable information is increasingly important in our current environment. Whether you see something on social media or are having a conversation with a friend, you might turn to Google to learn more about a developing issue. While Google Search will always be there with the most useful results we can provide, sometimes the reliable information you’re searching for just isn’t online yet. This can be particularly true for breaking news or emerging topics, when the information that’s published first may not be the most reliable. To help with this, we’ve trained our systems to detect when a topic is rapidly evolving and a range of sources hasn’t yet weighed in. We’ll now show a notice indicating that it may be best to check back later when more information from a wider range of sources might be available. Since last year, we’ve had similar notices that let you know when Google hasn’t been able to find anything that matches your search particul...