
Why A.I. Researchers at Google Got Desks Next to the Boss - dmix
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/technology/ai-researchers-desks-boss.html?hpw&rref=business&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well
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ocdtrekkie
It is hard to express how much this story reads like a submarine:
[http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html](http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html)

Particularly, there seems nothing super newsworthy here, in terms of the fact
that normally speaking, internal arrangement of a workplace office doesn't
make the New York Times. But if one of the aforementioned three companies is
pushing the AI buzz, dropping the names of Silicon Valley's top executives in
a piece like this seems pretty much the stock way to do it.

Google in particular has revamped it's entire imagine and identity as a
company around being "an AI company".

It's hard to imagine where this article originated from other than a PR firm.

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rajacombinator
Almost all “news” articles fit this description. Some of them are just more
clever at concealing the sponsor.

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robotresearcher
Look at the NYT front page at some random moment. What ratio of stories
plausibly fit this description? Right now I'm having trouble finding one out
of >25.

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jiqiren
Brings back memories of Plus team all being close to leadership at Google...
this is more of an ego thing for leadership and the lucky few deemed to be the
most important.

If the "most important" were really seated next to leadership at Google it
should be Adwords team.

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jstandard
While I can't speak to the exact climate at Google, to me it's more about
igniting teams and showing focus.

Friends at Tesla, FB, and other have mentioned this happening when a company
is moving into new frontiers or needing to drastically improve certain product
areas.

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ssivark
Counterpoint, just for the heck of it :-)

How awful! One would expect the vicinity of high-level managers to have a lot
of activity... people walking in and out for discussions, visitors throughout
the day, high-level management walking around potentially asking questions
which might pull a researcher out from 3-levels deep problem solving! Maybe
what researchers need are comfortable working environment (desks, chairs,
boards, discussion rooms) and the right amount of stimulation -- maybe a few
discussions with colleagues to spark ideas, and not too much generally
distracting bustle.

My only point is that it is far from obvious whether this seating arrangement
is beneficial.

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monksy
Why on earth would yo want to sit next to the "boss"?!

~~~
dictum
You hope to become a boss in time to watch the corporate reorg in which the
scenario will have you as the boss, and your brainchild AI as the AI
researcher.

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berkeleyjunk
Kind of reminds me of this old HBR article on a similar topic

[https://hbr.org/2012/02/does-it-matter-where-your-
top](https://hbr.org/2012/02/does-it-matter-where-your-top)

which had a link to this interesting paper

[http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone...](http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0014279)

