Attendees at a Google summit received a notebook with a bizarre joke about cotton inside the front cover this summer, reigniting questions about discrimination at the tech company. Upon opening the notebook, attendees saw the sentence, 'I WAS JUST COTTON THE MOMENT, BUT I CAME BACK TO TAKE YOUR NOTES!' MUCH BETTER! The incident took place at the K&I Black Google Summit, held August 15 and 16 - an event meant to promote diversity and inclusion in the AI community, as well as reinforce Google's commitment to promoting equity in the broader tech industry. Google's notebooks came from a third-party supplier, according to a company spokesperson, and event organizers were not aware of this printing inside The customizable notebook is sold by multiple online retailers, and the joke seems to refer to the fact that its cover is made of recycled cotton fibers. The front of the notebooks were inoffensive: an illustration of a sunrise, the event title and date, and the slogan'Seize the moment.'

In a highly unusual undertaking in the technology industry, the Alphabet Workers Union was formed by over 400 Google engineers and other workers in early January. The union now has about 800 members. The Alphabet Workers Union is a minority union, representing a fraction of the company's more than 260,000 full-time employees and contractors. The workers stated at the outset that it was primarily an effort to give structure to activism at Google, rather than to negotiate for a contract. The union is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), a union representing workers in telecommunications and media in the US and Canada.

Google's dismissal of a top artificial intelligence researcher vocal about the company's failures to address the lack of diversity in its workforce has drawn sharp new scrutiny of its treatment of Black employees, particularly women. Timnit Gebru says she was fired via email after refusing to retract a research paper that asked tough questions about a type of artificial intelligence, including Google's use of it. Jeff Dean, Google's executive in charge of AI, told employees in an email that Gebru's paper did not follow the rules for work published externally. Some 2,000 Google employees signed a petition protesting the company's handling of the situation. Academic researchers called out Google on social media in a rare and widespread rebuke.

Microsoft Corp. said it won't sell facial-recognition technology to U.S. police until there is a national law regulating its use, echoing similar commitments from Amazon.com Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. made this week. The trio of technology companies have called for clearer federal rules around the surveillance technology amid widespread concern about its potential for racial bias. Meanwhile, the popular fantasy card game, "Magic: The Gathering," removed several cards it deemed racist or culturally offensive from its database, including one depicting figures in pointed hoods. The Hasbro-subsidiary behind the game also pledged to review all cards for material deemed inappropriate. The moves are the latest public actions by businesses lining up to show their commitment to racial equality.