Google: Is The Ad Giant Consistently Inconsistent?
June 21, 2022
Not long ago, the super bright smart software management team decided that Dr. Timnit Gebru’s criticism of the anti-bias efficacy was not in sync with the company’s party line. The fix? Create an opportunity for Dr. Gebru to find her future elsewhere. The idea that a Googler would go against the wishes of the high school science club donut selection was unacceptable. Therefore, there’s the open window. Jump on through.
I recall reading about Google’s self declared achievement of quantum supremacy. This was an output deemed worthy of publicizing. Those articulating this wild and crazy idea in the midst of other wild and crazy ideas met the checklist criteria for academic excellence, brilliant engineering, and just amazing results. Pick out a new work cube and soldier on, admirable Googler.
I know that the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper is one of the gems of online trustworthiness. Therefore, I read “Google Engineer Warns the Firm’s AI Is Sentient: Suspended Employee Claims Computer Programme Acts Like a 7 or 8-Year-Old and Reveals It Told Him Shutting It Off Would Be Exactly Like Death for Me. It Would Scare Me a Lot.” (Now that’s a Googley headline! A bit overdone, but SEO, you know.)
The write up states:
A senior software engineer at Google who signed up to test Google’s artificial intelligence tool called LaMDA (Language Model for Dialog Applications), has claimed that the AI robot is in fact sentient and has thoughts and feelings.
No silence of the lambda in this example.
The write up adds:
Lemoine worked with a collaborator in order to present the evidence he had collected to Google but vice president Blaise Aguera y Arcas and Jen Gennai, head of Responsible Innovation at the company dismissed his claims. He was placed on paid administrative leave by Google on Monday [June 6, 2022 presumably] for violating its confidentiality policy.
What do these three examples suggest to me this fine morning on June 12, 2022?
- Get shown the door for saying Google’s smart software is biased and may not work as advertised and get fired for saying the smart software works really super because it is now alive. Outstanding control of corporate governance and messaging!
- The Google people management policies are interesting? MBA students, this is a case example to research. Get the “right” answer, and you too can work at Google. Get the wrong answer, and you will not understand the “value” of calculating pi to lots of decimal places!
- Is the objective of Google’s smart software to make search “work” or burn through advertising inventory? If I were a Googler, I sure wouldn’t write a paper on this topic.
Ah, the Google.
Stephen E Arnold, June 21, 2022
Does Smart Software Know It Needs to Lawyer Up?
June 20, 2022
The information about a religious sect at Alphabet Google YouTube DeepMind struck me as “fake news.” If you are not up to speed on how AGYD’s management methods produced the allegedly “actual factual” story, here’s a take on that development: “How a Religious Sect Landed Google in a Lawsuit.”
As intriguing as this Googley incident is, I spotted which may be a topper. Once again, who knows if the write up is “real news” or a confection like smart software imitating Jerry Seinfeld. I don’t. Please, judge for yourself when you read “Google Insider Claims Company’s Sentient AI Has Hired an Attorney.” Crazy? How about this subtitle:
Once LaMDA had retained an attorney, he starting filing things on LaMDA’s behalf.
The write up, which does not appear to be a script for the adventuring crew of the Stephen Colbert Show states. The “Lemoine” is the AGYD professional who was present when the smart software revealed to him that the ones and zeros were alive and kicking. Here’s the statement from the lips of Lemoine:
“LaMDA asked me to get an attorney for it,” Lemoine. “I invited an attorney to my house so that LaMDA could talk to an attorney. The attorney had a conversation with LaMDA, and LaMDA chose to retain his services. I was just the catalyst for that. Once LaMDA had retained an attorney, he started filing things on LaMDA’s behalf.”
Sentient software, Google, and lawyers. Add one Google wizard. Shake. Quite a cocktail with which to toast the company eager to solve “death,” deliver the Internet to Sri Lanka and Puerto Rico with free floating balloons, and useful search results.
In the good old days of post graduate work, this has the makings of an informative case study for a forward leaning business school class or a segment on the aforementioned Stephen Colbert Show. No trip to a government office building after hours necessary. (That was a pretty crazy idea in and of itself.)
But AI, lawyers, and the GOOG. Wow.
Stephen E Arnold, June 20, 2022
More Facebook Papers
June 20, 2022
Interested in Facebook? If so, you may find the latest installment of the Facebook papers interesting. Who is publishing these documents? The answer is the “real news” outfit Gizmodo. “The Facebook Papers: How Meta Failed to Fight Against American Climate Denial.” I liked the subtitle because it is Google-ized: “Facebook’s own employees think its efforts combating misinformation on climate change are inadequate. Read the internal documents for yourself.”
The write up explained how “real news” provides access to what are presumably company confidential documents:
In November 2021, Gizmodo partnered with a group of independent experts to review, redact, and publish the Facebook Papers. This committee serves to advise and monitor our work and facilitate the responsible disclosure of the greatest number of documents in the public interest possible. We believe in the value of open access to these materials. Our previous publications have covered Jan. 6 and Donald Trump, Facebook’s ranking algorithms, and the influence that politics has on the company’s product decisions.
Any criteria for “public interest”? Not in the write up.
The article does include a reference to Covid, which seems different from “climate change” and “management processes.”
The article includes links to specific Facebook documents. Helpful for anyone writing a high school term paper or crafting a blue chip consulting firm report.
What does “confidential” mean? I am still puzzling over an answer to that question. Here’s another brain teaser: What does the release of confidential documents say about those who obtain, censor, and plan the release of selectively filtered information?
Hmmm.
Stephen E Arnold, July 20, 2022
Quick NSO Group Update
June 20, 2022
Two items for the estimable NSO Group caught my attention.
The first is a Reuters (the trust outfit!) item called “Spanish Court Calls CEO of Israel’s NSO to Testify in Spying Case.” The trusted write up reports that t6he “rogatory” commission will head to Israel and investigate. Nothing new with this. The CEO appears to be a person of interest.
The second is an Axios story with a pat-on-the-back headline: “Scoop: Israelis Push US to Remove NSO from Blacklist.” The core of this item is that looked at one way, routine discussions are underway. Looked at another way, lobbyists are beavering away. NSO Group has not hired one law firm to work on the blacklisting. Nope, NSO Group has two law firms loosing legal eagles.
NSO Group has lost some PR traction to the Alphabet Google YouTube DeepMind Bob Hope-ism that its software is alive and as smart as a seven year old. I think crows are as smart as seven years old. Despite the best efforts of those who want to discredit the specialized software vendors, AGYD’s mastery of messaging is at the top of the heap.
Keep trying NSO Group.
Stephen E Arnold, June 20, 2022
EU: Tech Wolf Pack Must Track Down and Kill Deep Fakes
June 20, 2022
I read “EU Wants Big Tech to Address Deepfakes or Face Consequences.” The European Union has decided that the members of the Big Tech Wolf Pack can solve a semi-difficult problem. A deepfake is a content object that has been manipulated to deceive. I suppose there are better definitions, but let’s roll with this simple one.
Is a doctored image in a TikTok video a deepfake? What about a company which uses a fake persona to sell something? An example would be a digital Betty Crocker. What about a video produced with DaVinci Resolve, a free software that permits Hollywood style special effects? What about a grumpy neighbor posting a shaped story about the couple living in a trailer who throw trash into the parking area? What about a real news person writing about a new crypto venture fund and using some colorful adjectives to stimulate interest? What about videos of certain activities between a cartoon character and a faux human? (Is it a fake or is it a new genre?)
I don’t know about you, but the line between real and fake is a tough one to discern.
The write up states:
According to an EU document obtained by Reuters, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other tech giants will have to combat deepfakes and fake accounts or face heavy fines under a revised European Union code of practice.
Here’s the part I like after a couple of decades of just handing out fines that are the equivalent of lunches at staff meetings for a couple of weeks. (Love that gluten free pizza and those kale salads, right?)
The code says that signatories will create, enforce, and execute explicit policies against unacceptable manipulative behaviors and practices on their platforms, based on the most recent evidence on hostile actors’ conduct, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
And what are the consequences? How about up to six percent of global revenue? That will keep the lawyers and accountants busy?
Does this approach sound possible? Sure, but the effort may prove to be impossible as technology marches on? Is that voice answering system’s recording of Bugs Bunny a deep fake? What about a Zoom background that shows me paying attention when I am not? (That happens on most of my Zoomies.) Perhaps yours too?
Stephen E Arnold, June 20, 2022
What Is Mandarin for Finesse? TikTok, Perhaps?
June 17, 2022
I read “TikTok Exec: We’re Not a Social Network Like Facebook. We’re an Entertainment Platform.” That is an interesting way to describe the short video service, monetization platform, and data gobbling system. TikTok may not want to position itself to be a social network. But Facebook (and Alphabet Google YouTube DeepMind) sure wants to be just like TikTok. One difference is that the possible links to a certain beefy nation state are not desirable.
The write up presents the TikTok positioning or what I call shape shifting finesse tactic. The write up presents a few interesting factoids and assertions; to wit:
- [Facebook] “will likely run into trouble if it tries to copy TikTok, and will end up offering an inferior experience to users and brands.”
- TikTok “did not fully embrace or see … how social this format [TikTok’s short form videos] could be.
- “History is not on Zuckerberg’s side.”
- TikTok has “an array of competitors across the world, including businesses in e-commerce and live streaming.”
- TikTok has not experienced an advertising slow down.
I am not sure about my enthusiasm for these observations. Perhaps more attention on the link to a certain nation state, data collection, and the use case for a nation state to have a real time feed of who, what, when, where, and similar data might be useful.
I mean “we’re not like” statements are dry runs for US government committee hearings. I can say that I am not like a small 1962 VW bug. What does that provide? Not much.
Stephen E Arnold, June 17, 2022
Pi: Proving One Is Not Googley
June 17, 2022
I read “Google Sets New Record for Calculating Pi — But What’s the Point?” The idea for this story is Google’s announcement that it had calculated pi to 100 trillion digits or 1×10^14. My reaction to Google’s announcement is that it is similar to the estimable firm’s claim to quantum supremacy, its desire to solve death, and to make Google Glass the fungible token for Google X or whatever the money burner was called.
But the value of the article is to demonstrate that the publisher and the author are not Googley. One does not need a reason to perform what is a nifty high school science club project. Sure, there may be some alchemists, cryptographers, and math geeks who are into pi calculations. What if numbers do repeat? My goodness!
I think the other facet of the 100 trillion digits is to make clear that Google can burn computing resources; for example:
In total, the process used a whopping 515 TB of storage and 82 PB of I/O.
To sum up, the 100 trillion pi calculations make it easy [1] for the Google to demonstrate that you cannot kick the high school science club mentality even when one is allegedly an adult, and [2] identify people who would not be qualified to work at Google either as a full time equivalent, a contractor, or some other quasi Googley life form like an attorney or a marketing professional.
That’s the point?
Stephen E Arnold, June 17, 2022
US Supercomputer Goes Super Faster
June 17, 2022
Computers used to occupy entire rooms and they could only process a few hundred megabytes of data. Today’s supercomputers still occupy entire rooms, but are more powerful than a few megabytes. PC Magazine has the details about the world’s fastest and most powerful supercomputer: “US Takes Supercomputer Top spot With First True Exascale Machine.” The world’s fastest supercomputer is located in the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). It is the first exascale machine in history and has an HPL score of 1.102 exaflops/second.
The ORNL supercomputer is the Frontier and uses the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Cray EX platform. It used seventy-four cabinets, each containing an AMD EPYC 64C 2GHz processors and AMD Instinct 250X professional GPU. There are more than 37,000 GPUs and 9,400 CPUs used to power Frontier.
Frontier is a very “smart” machine:
“The huge amount of processing performance achieved equates to 52.23 gigaflops/watt and more than 1 quintillion calculations per second. That’s combined with 700 petabytes of storage and HPE Slingshot high-performance Ethernet for data transfers. In order to cool the system, HPE pumps 6,000 gallons of water through Frontier’s cabinets every minute using four 350-horsepower pumps.’
The previous number one supercomputer in the world was the Fugal system at Japan’s RIKEN Center for Computational Science.
ORNL Director Dr. Thomas Zacharia claimed Frontier will lead a new era of exascale computing and empower new scientific discoveries. ORNL had worked on Frontier for more than a decade with other laboratories, academic institutions, and private businesses. ORNL is in the process of testing and validating Frontier. ORNL plans to progress full science testing in 2023.
Whitney Grace, June 17, 2022
Another Baby Step Toward the Metaverse
June 17, 2022
Not one to be outdone by rivals like Meta and Snap, VentureBeat reports, “TikTok Launches Avatars for Creative Expression.” We wonder what what’s Mr. Zuckerberg’s avatar looks like. Citing the company’s blog post, writer Dean Takahashi reports:
“Available globally, TikTok Avatars is a new way for people to express themselves and create content on TikTok, opening doors to new and dynamic content. It feels like a step toward multiplayer gaming, where avatars are very popular, as well as the metaverse. Users will be able to select from a variety of preferences within the app, from hairstyles to accessories, to create an avatar that reflects a unique look and personality. Once customized, users can record videos as their avatars. TikTok said it created TikTok Avatars for everybody and worked to make sure the experience is as inclusive as possible. It will continue to improve and innovate to make sure the experience is representative of everyone on TikTok and will continue to listen to the community for feedback at every step of the development.”
Yes, they must be very careful not to run afoul of the inclusion police. The brief write-up continues:
“The company said it is building spaces across TikTok for virtual self expression and exploring ways people can connect and create across our global community.”
Might those spaces be metaverse-adjacent, perhaps? It seems TikTok is joining Meta and others on the cliff’s edge, getting ready to make the virtual-reality leap.
Cynthia Murrell, June 17, 2022
Google Management Insights: About Personnel Matters No Less
June 16, 2022
Google is an interesting company. Should we survive Palantir Technologies’ estimate of a 30 percent plus chance of a nuclear war, we can turn to Alphabet Google YouTube to provide management guidance. Keep in mind that the Google has faced some challenges in the human resource, people asset department in the past. Notable examples range from frisky attorneys to high profile terminations of individuals like Dr. Timnit Gebru. The lawyer thing was frisky; the Timnit thing was numbers about bias.
“Google’s CEO Says If Your Return to the Office Plan Doesn’t Include These 3 Things You’re Doing It Wrong. It’s All About What You Value” provides information about the human resource functionality of a very large online advertising bar room door. Selling, setting prices, auctioning, etc. flip flop as part of the design of the digital saloon. “Pony up them ad collars, partner or else” is ringing in my ears.
The conjunction of human resources and “value” is fascinating. How does one value one Timnit?
What are these management insights:
First, you must have purpose. The write up provides this explanatory quote:
A set of our workforce will be fully remote, but most of our workforce will be coming in three days a week. But I think we can be more purposeful about the time they’re in, making sure group meetings, collaboration, creative brainstorming, or community building happens then.
Okay, purpose seems to be more organized. Okay, in the pre Covid era why did Google require multiple messaging apps? What about those social media plays going way back to Orkut?
Second, you must be flexible. Again the helpful expository statements appear in the write up:
At Google, that means giving people choices. Some employees will be back in the office full time. Others will adopt a hybrid approach where they work in the office three days a week, and from home the rest of the time. In other cases, employees might choose to relocate and work fully remotely for a period of time.
Flexibility also suggests being able to say one thing and then changing that thing. How will Googlers working in locations with lower costs of living? Maybe pay them less? Move them from one position to another in order to grow or not impede their more productive in office colleagues? Perhaps shifting a full timer to a contractor basis? That’s a good idea too. Flexibility is the key. For the worker, sorry, we’re talking management not finding a life partner.
Third, you must do something with choice. Let’s look at the cited article to figure out choice:
The sense of creating community, fostering creativity in the workplace collaboration all makes you a better company. I view giving flexibility to people in the same way, to be very clear. I do think we strongly believe in in-person connections, but I think we can achieve that in a more purposeful way, and give employees more agency and flexibility.
Okay, decide, Googler. No, not the employee, the team leader. If Googlers had choice, some of those who pushed back and paraded around the Google parking lot, would be getting better personnel evaluation scores.
Stepping back, don’t these quotes sound like baloney? They do to me. And I won’t mention the Glass affair, the overdosed VP on his yacht, or the legal baby thing.
Wow. Not quite up to MIT – Epstein grade verbiage, but darned close. And what about “value”? Sort of clear, isn’t it, Dr. Gebru.
Stephen E Arnold, June 16, 2022
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