Worth noting that when Google was founded, Microsoft was in the middle of a long antitrust investigation, which was documenting every illegal thing they had done to maintain their monopoly and hurt every company that challenged it.
The “evil” in the Don’t Be Evil motto was widely seen as a reference to that company and that behaviour. From early on, Google saw Microsoft as a threat. They ran Linux servers, and tried to make sure as few employees as possible were running Microsoft on their desktops and laptops. A lot of internal tools were developed to try to avoid any kind of dependency on Microsoft, including ones that eventually became available externally like Google Docs etc.
Now, 25ish years later, it’s Google who are being investigated for leveraging their monopoly in a way that hurts consumers. IMO, they still never stooped as low as Microsoft did. Google paid Apple and Mozilla billions to be the default search engine. Microsoft used lawsuits and patents to try to drive their competition out of business. But, it’s still a monopoly that harms the world.
Anyhow, I’m glad that Google originally had the “Don’t be evil” motto, and also had this bit about AI principles that avoid the risk of harm. They act like useful warrant canaries because when they’re removed you know something’s up.
dephyre@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Don’t be evilDo the right thingDo no harmLine must go upStovetop@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Don’t be evil (to the shareholders)
Do the right thing (for our stock value)
Do no harm (to our profit margins)
…
Line must go up (before it comes down) ((wishful thinking))
Screen_Shatter@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Do all the harm
lolrightythen@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Make everyone but “us” poor, so they can’t afford to resist. Just start with marginalized populations (bc that I’d who america truly is deep down).
Divide and conquer
BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Do harm others before others harm you