New Magazin Saleb Opinion

Editor’s Note: Chief Diversity Officer Melonie Parker sent the following note to the company today. In a conversation I had last year with civil rights scholar john a. powell about belonging, he talked about “building a place together, for all of us.” I keep coming back to this as we reach new stages in the pandemic, and as we continue to support those who are impacted by the war in Ukraine. I’m humbled by the many efforts happening across the company that show how we’re making progress and building belonging at work, and in our world — together. Read on to learn more. 10:25 Supporting and investing in communities around the world Supporting our global workforce and local communities around the world remains a top priority for us. Today, we announced several initiatives to help with the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and to support the post-war recovery of Central and Eastern Europe. We’ve also hosted community support sessions to help Googlers af...

At Google, Marian Croak ’s technical research team, The Center for Responsible AI and Human-Centered Technology, and Jen Gennai’s operations and governance team, Responsible Innovation, collaborate often on creating a fairer future for AI systems. The teams complement each other to support computer scientists, UX researchers and designers, product managers and subject matter experts in the social sciences, human rights and civil rights. Collectively, their teams include more than 200 people around the globe focused on putting our AI Principles – Google’s ethical charter – into practice. “The intersection of AI systems and society is a critical area of my team’s technical research,” Marian says. “Our approach includes working directly with people who use and are impacted by AI systems. Working together with Jen’s central operations team, the idea is to make AI more useful and reduce potential harm before products launch.” For Women’s History Month, we wanted to talk to them both a...

Carrie Cai, Ben Zevenbergen and Johnny Soraker all work on developing artificial intelligence (AI) responsibly at Google, in the larger research community and across the technology industry. Carrie is a research scientist focusing on human-AI interaction, Ben is an ethicist and policy advisor and Johnny is an AI Principles ethicist. They all work within a global team of experts from a variety of fields, including the social sciences and humanities, focused on the ethical development of AI. They’re driven to make systems that are fair, inclusive and focused on people. But they have more than their work in common: They’re all accomplished musicians who’ve studied music, composed and published pieces and even played at the professional level. We wanted to know more about their musical backgrounds, and how this creative interest informs their work building AI systems that take everyone into account. What instrument — or instruments — do you play? Ben: Guitar, bass and drums. Johnny...

Today I am in Warsaw, Poland, a city that’s become a symbol of safety and hope for so many Ukrainians fleeing the war. In my mind, the shared collective history of Central and Eastern Europe represents an ideal of freedom, resilience and community. So it wasn’t surprising to me that so many people across the region had opened their homes to take in refugees or stood in train stations to welcome them with food, clothing and kindness. I spent my morning visiting our Google for Startups Campus in Warsaw, which we opened three weeks ago to NGOs supporting refugees as well as Ukrainian startups. I met with the NGOs to hear how Google can best support the needs of refugees, now and in the future. I also heard from some of the first entrepreneurs working from the campus and was inspired to see their strength and resolve in the face of such personal tragedy and loss. While in Europe, I’ve also been meeting with government officials to discuss the humanitarian crisis and the need for contin...

We commend the European Commission and U.S. government on the work they’ve done to reach a new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework. People want to be able to use digital services from anywhere in the world and know that their privacy is respected, and their information safe and protected. This agreement acknowledges that reality: it commits the parties to a high standard of data protection while establishing a reliable and durable foundation for the future of internet services on both sides of the Atlantic. A meaningful agreement The work to get to this stage was anything but trivial, and required addressing important considerations of both national security and individual privacy. Google has long advocated reasonable limits on government surveillance. The U.S. government has now committed to systems that will enable independent and meaningful redress for people in the EU, strengthen the guardrails and proportionality of U.S. intelligence collection, and ensure ef...

The last few years have been full of change, and 2022 is no exception. Personally, I’ve begun heading back to the office for work — which is a pretty big departure from the days when I used to sleep, work, exercise and relax all inside my San Francisco studio apartment. I’m ready to put away the athleisure (at least during work hours), and I’m excited about seeing everyone in person…but at the same time, I'm a bit worried about keeping up with the healthy habits I developed while working from home. Since I started working as a Product Marketing Manager on the Google Assistant team about a year ago, though, I’ve gotten hooked on a few features that help me manage my day and keep me accountable to my wellness goals. Here’s a day in my life with Google Assistant: 7:45 a.m. - My alarm goes off on my Nest Hub, and I wake up to country music (my favorite). Usually I’m a snoozer, but since I started setting my alarm to my favorite genre of music, I’ve been waking up to feel-good t...