In October 2017, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, announced
that the company would give $1 billion over the next five years to nonprofit
organizations that help people “adjust to the changing nature of work.”[1]
The digital skills philanthropic venture would essentially help otherwise
unemployed Americans get jobs that require high-tech skills. This would also
enable more people to use the
internet, and thus the company’s products. So a reporter at USA Today can be said to gild the lily a
bit in claiming that the initiative “is a tacit acknowledgement from one of the
world’s most valuable companies that it bears some responsibility for rapid
advances in technology that are radically reshaping industries and eliminating
jobs in the U.S. and around the world.”[2]
I submit that it is highly unlikely that such an acknowledgement ever took
place at Google, given the more likely scenario wherein the company’s
management saw an opportunity to enlarge (and hopefully enrich) its labor pool
and customer base.
The full essay is at "Google's Philanthropy."
[1]
Jessica Lynn, “Google
to Give $1 Billion to Nonprofits and Help Americans Get Jobs in the New Economy,”
The New York Times, October 12, 2017.
[2]
Ibid.
