Timnit Gebru, a well-known researcher in artificial intelligence whose departure in December continues to be a problem for Google, in Boston, Dec. 29, 2017.
Fifteen current and former Google executives, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of angering Google and Pichai, told The New York Times that Google was suffering from many of the pitfalls of a large, maturing company — a paralyzing bureaucracy, a bias toward inaction and a fixation on public perception.
The Google executives complaining about Pichai’s leadership acknowledge that, and say he is a thoughtful and caring leader. They say Google is more disciplined and organized these days — a bigger, more professionally run company than the one Pichai inherited six years ago. In 2015, when Google became part of Alphabet, Pichai took over as Google’s chief executive. He was promoted again to oversee the parent company as well when Larry Page, a Google co-founder, stepped down as Alphabet’s boss four years later.
It’s a significant brain drain of vice presidents, who total about 400 managers and serve as the leadership backbone across the company. Google said it was comfortable with its vice president attrition rates, which have been steady the last five years. One former executive said the company’s risk aversion was embodied by a state of perpetual research and development known internally as “pantry mode.” Teams will stash away products in case a rival creates something new and Google needs to respond quickly.
David Baker, a former director of engineering at Google’s trust and safety group who resigned in protest of Gebru’s dismissal, said Google should admit that it had made a mistake instead of trying to save face.
If they say so. But if Google goes down a lot of us are in big trouble.