Report: Bad Wi-Fi plagues a Google AI office

In 2022, Google opened its Bay View campus in Mountain View, California after nearly five years of construction. The Google office, which houses employees working on AI, has a striking tent-like design and bad Wi-Fi.

According to Reuters, Bay View “has been plagued for months by inoperable or, at best, spotty Wi-Fi.” Googlers have resorted to using Ethernet cables/dongles or creating hotspot networks with their phones.

The Wi-Fi signal is stronger outside, and Google employees have been encouraged to work there (20 acres of open space in total) or at an adjoining office cafe, while others have been “issued new laptops recently with more powerful Wi-Fi chips,” presumably Wi-Fi 6E.

Bay View, which consists of two buildings and a 1,000-person event center, is home to teams working on generative AI and advertising. 

A Google spokesperson confirmed to Reuters how there are “Wi-Fi connectivity issues in Bay View” and that the company has “made several improvements to address the issue,” with a broader fix expected in the coming weeks. 

Google has not publicly disclosed the reasons for the Wi-Fi problems, but workers say the 600,000-square-foot building’s swooping, wave-like rooftop swallows broadband like the Bermuda Triangle.

Photo credit: Iwan Baan

The company considers Bay View (and a second office called Gradient Canopy that shares the design) to be the “first campus built by Google” as its internal design and engineering teams played a big role, though it did work with two outside architecture firms. The tent-like roof has solar panels that trap more light than flat panels, while reducing glare.

Consisting of two floors, the upper level is home to team spaces and desks that are divided into “smaller neighborhoods separated by courtyards and connected via ramps that gradually rise as you move to the center of the building.” The design allows each desk to have an outdoor view with natural daylight and greenery. You’ll find meeting rooms and cafes (seven) below, while there are nine elevators for getting around.