Google Research execs reveal how they use AI in their daily lives — and where they think twice about it

Google execs talked about where they use AI in their daily lives and where they hesitate to integrate it.

AI is becoming hard to ignore in the workplace — and for some companies, it’s refined daily workflow for employees.

Executives for Google Research — the branch of the company that explores areas like machine learning, quantum AI, and science — shared with B-17 how they use AI in their daily lives.

Google Research head of product and UX Katherine Chou said she uses Lens, Google’s tool that uses image recognition to identify images. She said she used it to look up skin conditions and that the tool is useful for herself and her family members.

Maya Kulycky, Google Research’s VP of strategy, operations, and outreach, also said she is “a huge fan of Lens.” Kulycky said she recently saw a “beautiful Halloween graveyard entrance” in Chicago and used Lens to determine how much it would cost.

Vice President of Google Research, Yossi Matias, told B-17 some of his favorite tools allow listening to audio versions of articles or translating pages. He used the term “ambient intelligence” to describe AI that “just works” without being noticed.

“For me, the greatest progress is when we don’t pay attention to where we’re using it,” Matias said, adding that’s the “magic of technology.”

However, even those leading tech giants have certain reservations about where they use AI.

Kulycky mentioned autocorrect and autocomplete as an area she sometimes thinks twice about. While she said she loves the tool, before accepting the suggested word, she’ll ask herself if the word expresses what she means “better than the word” she originally planned to use.

“Or is it actually like, I’m doing something a little lazy, I’m going to utilize that word, but it’s not going to give the same impression,” Kulycky said. “And how does that change the nature of my speaking in this form?”

She also said she hesitates about using it in more emotional areas.

“I’m a parent, I’m a mother, I have two boys, 12, 14. I don’t want an interface between the emotion that I’m expressing to them,” Kulycky said.

For Matias, the question of technology and art is “close to my heart.” While he feels optimistic about AI’s evolution in spaces like music and writing, he says it’s important to “have a good identification” of when AI is being used.

He also said he uses Gemini’s “double-check feature,” an artificial intelligence tool, to check Google’s AI. The tool allows users to check information from Gemini Apps by using Google Search to find similar or different content from the response generated by Gemini Apps.

“So that enables me to actually benefit from getting this awesome quick, snappy, comprehensive answer to any question I had,” Matias said, adding that it helps him make sure it’s “well grounded.”