Yes.. you read that right; Salesforce has responded to growing pressure after several Silicon Valley protests took place this year.
We have seen growing controversies over Silicon Valley contracts with the US military, most notably, the thousands of Google employees signing a petition, with some even resigning in response to Project Maven, a contract with the Department of Defence that would see the company’s AI used to analyse drone footage.
Salesforce has not escaped the controversy however, with over 650 Salesforce employees composing a letter to cloud pioneer and CEO Marc Benioff to express their disdain at a US Customs and Border Protection linkup.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and employees stand in the shadow of the 61-story Salesforce Tower in San Francisco. To make things worse, a non-profit group that provides legal services to immigrants throw a $250,000 donation back in the face of Salesforce’s hierarchy, saying that it wouldn’t accept the donation unless the company cancelled the contract.
So, from January 7th, Paula Goldman will get to work spearheading a new Office of Ethical and Humane Use, focusing on developing strategies to use technology in an ethical and humane way.
Paula had this to say at her announcement last Monday
“For years, I’ve admired Salesforce as a leader in ethical business. We’re at an important inflection point as an industry, and I’m excited to work with this team to chart a path forward.
We understand that we have a broader responsibility to society, and aspire to create technology that not only drives the success of our customers, but also drives positive social change and benefits humanity.”
