©Reuters. File photo: Exterior view of Google’s BV100 building during a tour of his new Bayview campus in Mountain View, California, USA, May 16, 2022. Photographed on May 16, 2022.Reuters/Peter DaSilva/File photo
Written by Greg Bensinger
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google is touting its myriad innovations in the web giant’s first fully designed and built building, and is redirecting employees to focus on its most high-profile project: generative artificial intelligence. I’m even moving it. But some say they wish the innovation had included decent his Wi-Fi.
The Bayview building at Alphabet Inc.’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters has been without Wi-Fi, or at best unreliable, for months, according to six people familiar with the matter. It is said that there is.
Collaborative workspaces with recliners don’t work well for teams carrying laptops around. Because employees need to connect to an Ethernet cable at their desk to receive consistent Internet service. Some people get by by using their cell phones as hotspots.
The company describes the new building and It promoted the campus around it.
However, a Google spokesperson acknowledged that “Bayview is experiencing Wi-Fi connectivity issues.” He said Google has “made several improvements to address this issue” and that the company expects to have a fix in the coming weeks.
According to an AI engineer who works in the building, which also houses members of the advertising team, unreliable Wi-Fi has not helped Google as it pushes for a three-day week mandate.
“You would think that the world’s leading Internet company would have solved this,” he says. Like others, he spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity because Google does not allow him to discuss working conditions.
Managers are encouraging employees to take a walk outside or sit in an adjacent cafe with a strong Wi-Fi signal. Some have recently issued new laptops with more powerful Wi-Fi chips.
Google hasn’t disclosed the cause of the Wi-Fi problems, but employees say the 600,000-square-foot building’s swooping, undulating rooftop is engulfing broadband like the Bermuda Triangle.
Under its ocean roof, Google employees are racing to deploy the latest version of an advanced artificial intelligence software known as Gemini that is key to Google’s future. Such AI became a sensation in Silicon Valley following the wide release of his ChatGPT in late 2022.
Asked by Reuters whether there is enough Wi-Fi on campus, Gemini expressed cautious optimism. “The Bayview campus likely has Wi-Fi,” the software replied.
“As the headquarters of Google, a major technology company, it would be surprising not to do so.”
