Sean Maday
Published Dec 27, 2018
A lot has been written this year about Google's foray into providing a machine learning solution to the U.S. military. In many cases the internal debate among Googlers has been portrayed by outsiders as an outright lack of support for the U.S. government and contempt for the Department of Defense. This characterization is fundamentally untrue, and really bothers me.
As a Google employee, I couldn't ask for better support of my commitment to the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Thirty nine days each year I cut my hair, shave my face, put on an Air Force uniform and take military leave from Google. In a technology company with a fast-paced culture of high-performance, this is a significant amount of time to step away from the workplace.
During my periods of military leave Google generously makes up the difference between the salary I earn as an Air Force officer and the income I would have earned at Google. While I am performing military service Google continues to vest my stock grants, I remain eligible for bonuses, and the company calibrates my performance evaluations to my time in the office so that I stay competitive for promotions. This generous support is far in excess of the minimum requirements mandated by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).
At the individual and team level, I enjoy immense support from my Google coworkers. When I am absent from Google performing military duties my colleagues selflessly cover the meetings I miss, continue to forge forward on projects, and go out of their way to pick up the slack in operations created by my unavailability. These great men and women don't complain, and they don't let me fail. I'm humbled by their hard work and gracious support.
The nascent weaponization of artificial intelligence is a scary frontier. Governments, companies, and individuals should be deliberate about venturing into this rapidly developing domain. All voices and perspectives about emerging machine learning capabilities deserve to be heard. These are healthy debates.
To cast this discourse as black and white or right and wrong is simply a gross oversimplification. Partnership is a two way street, and trust must be earned not granted. While the government and technology companies find new ways to forge public and private partnerships around artificial intelligence, it helps to maintain perspective.
From my perspective, I know I couldn’t be the Air Force officer this country needs me to be without the outstanding support I receive from Google and my fellow Googlers.