
Google’s growing dependence on AI is not limited to customer products; It is now added to internal operations. Earlier this year, Google transitioned from its “Dory” system, used for employee issues during TGIF meetingsto a platform fed by AI called “Ask”. The intention was to rationalize and summarize the questions to the leaders. IA moderation has aroused concerns among employees.
What is “asking”, the system that replaced “Dory”
Dory, for years, has been an internal platform where Googlers used to submit questions. Employees could also “vote” questions in the list, and these questions with the highest points would be addressed by the CEO Sundar Pichai and other executives during the meetings of the town hall of Tgif.
In April, Google replaced Dory with “asking” which works in the same way, but the AI infused platform consolidates similar questions and summarizes them. According to a business insider report, these questions are often summarized in a polite manner, omitting more direct comments of certain employees.
Some employees believe that this new tool censures difficult questions by making them less sharp, allowing managers to dodge more direct requests on the open forum.
“Googlers don’t like it …”
Although Googlers can always click on a summary of the AI and see the individual questions that are summarized, the staff can only vote on the summaries of the AI, an employee has been cited. This has raised that the tool be used to avoid processing sensitive subjects or specific concerns raised by employees.
“They just try to dodge the damage context and the questions of being seen by a wider audience and avoiding engaging with the details posed in a particular question,” said another employee, while a Third parties said TGIF has become “much less interesting” since the introduction of “asking”.
“Googlers do not like it because they believe that it deletes the raw or direct element of the question. The AI pronounces the questions very politely while the Googlers were never timid to be sarcastic or direct, “added the employee.
Google says “ask” according to employee comments
According to the publication, Google claims that the new tool has been implemented according to employee comments to search for a wider range of questions addressed during TGIF meetings. However, change coincides with a broader trend in the increasingly frequent and more limited TGIF range.
According to data provided by a Google spokesperson for publication, in 2023, less than 1% of Googlers asked a question in the company’s question-end tool for TGIF. Google says that “asking” has doubled the participation, while arguing that it takes into account the comments of the employees and will continue to iterate on the tool.