{"id":20546,"date":"2020-08-04T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=20546"},"modified":"2021-02-24T09:38:34","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T17:38:34","slug":"how-salesforce-is-building-a-culture-of-responsible-technology-and-why-it-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/news\/stories\/how-salesforce-is-building-a-culture-of-responsible-technology-and-why-it-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"How Salesforce Is Building a Culture of Responsible Technology \u2014 and Why it Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Learn how our Office of Ethical and Humane Use is approaching today\u2019s most urgent questions around the responsibility of Tech and how we started on this journey.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is ethical and humane use?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This was the question on our employees\u2019 minds when our CEO and Chairman Marc Benioff announced a new department in 2018. The Office of Ethical and Humane Use, created as part of our Office of Equality, was formed with a mandate to ensure that our technology was used to help, not harm, society and uphold the basic human rights of every human being. As Benioff said at the time, \u201cOur industry has reached an inflection point that must be supported by a strong set of guiding values\u2026 we know technology isn\u2019t inherently good or bad; it\u2019s what you do with it that matters. And that\u2019s why we\u2019re making the Ethical and Humane Use of technology a strategic focus at Salesforce.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inflection point he referred to included the way technology has become inextricably intertwined in our daily lives, and how technology companies were being called upon by consumers<\/a> to prioritize the impact of their technology on society \u2014 as they continue to do today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after the announcement, we hired our first-ever Chief Ethical and Humane Use Officer, Paula Goldman, who came to us from Omidyar Network, where she served as Vice President Global Lead, Tech, and Society Solutions Lab. She shares, \u201cWhen I arrived, there was already an incredible foundation created by the Equality<\/a> team including an ethical use framework shaped by our employees.\u201d Goldman explains, \u201cWe have to remember that ethics is not a checklist, it\u2019s a mindset \u2014 the prize is a culture in which everyone owns thinking through the consequences of our technology. And so we began on a path of scaling such a culture in the company.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does this matter?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As Goldman said, ethics is a mindset, not a checklist. But how do we develop this muscle when most product organizations are trained to be \u201csprint-oriented\u201d, with clear goals and checklists to help get there? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell first, we had to educate on the why \u2014 why does this matter?\u201d Goldman explains. \u201cTo understand the why, we have to also turn to history and learn from a pivotal moment in our past. We\u2019ve been here before: the tech industry faced similar issues in the \u201880s, which was an exciting time for tech with the onset of consumer internet and personal computers. However with all the wonderful things that came with PCs and the Internet, also came the proliferation of worms and viruses, exploiting existing vulnerabilities and causing the industry to rethink security practices and their responsibility with urgency. The result was new standard protocols and best practices, like mandatory red-teaming<\/a>,\u201d said Goldman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the technology industry is in the middle of another pivotal moment. As a society, we\u2019ve become increasingly connected and the potential for technology to make our lives better is evident. However, it has also highlighted new potential harms. For example, it\u2019s come to the forefront that some of the algorithms in which key decisions or policies can be built on are biased. Incidents like voice recognition software that struggled to understand women<\/a>, or an algorithm making loan decisions based on an applicant\u2019s race and neighborhood<\/a> have illuminated the danger of creating technology without considering the potential consequences<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Salesforce we anchor on the principle of \u201cintention vs. impact\u201d in the work that we do \u2014 meaning regardless of our intent, it\u2019s the impact of our actions that truly matter. In order to hold ourselves accountable, maintain responsibility, and create trust, we create space for courageous, difficult conversations about the potential impact of our technologies while building thoughtful processes to scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating a trusted process<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As Goldman says, \u201cThe question that often emerges when talking about ethical and humane use is \u2014 whose ethics?\u201d As companies, we serve multiple stakeholders with many different perspectives \u2014 and we recognized early on that those stakeholders need to have a seat at the table to help guide us through these complex decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Establishing an Advisory Council <\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, the Office of Ethical and Humane Use began in the first few months with setting up an advisory council composed of diverse frontline and executive employees, as well as academics, industry experts, and society leaders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Council is a critical component of our office and our policy making process,\u201d says Rachel Gillum, Director of Ethical and Humane Use, who helps manage the Council. \u201cWe meet regularly with this group to share key issues we are grappling with and receive feedback that makes our work better. Our Council engages in rigorous debate and detailed discussions that help us to consider a wide set of perspectives, catch deficiencies, and avoid unintended consequences of technological and policy decisions. They don\u2019t always agree and that\u2019s actually the beauty \u2014 it helps us make thoughtful, informed, measured, and inclusive decisions.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building a framework<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The team also recognized they needed a framework to guide the process on difficult topics. \u201cWhen we started down this journey, we realized that our company\u2019s core values of trust, customer success, innovation, and equality \u2014 while incredibly important in our guidance \u2014 weren\u2019t specific enough to help us navigate the difficult situations that arise.\u201d Goldman shares, \u201cWe surveyed employees to understand how they view the ethical and humane use of technology, and worked closely with Salesforce leadership, our Advisory Council, and external consultations to develop our Guiding Principles: human rights, privacy, safety, honesty, and inclusion.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

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