Interesting. I found this article that does point to Amit Patel as the originator of “Don’t be evil” at google.

“Mayer explained that Don't Be Evil was coined in 1999 by one of Google's first engineers, Amit Patel, who shared a work cubicle with Mayer. She said Patel and other early employees were resistant when staff with business skills began joining the engineer-driven company. The engineers feared they would be pressured into moving certain clients higher in search results listings or building products they did not want to build. Patel voiced his fears via the whiteboard in the conference room where Google sales people met clients. "In this incredibly neat handwriting in tiny little letters on the bottom right hand side of the white board, he wrote 'Don't Be Evil'," Mayer said. Some time later, when Google had 200-300 employees, its human resources team decided the company needed corporate values. They called a team meeting of some of Google's senior staff. After they brainstormed 10 positive corporate values, Paul Bucheit, the inventor of Gmail, suggested ditching those in favour of one that covered all angles - Don't Be Evil. "Originally Don't Be Evil was No.6 on the corporate values [list] but it's the only one that stuck because it's the catchiest and, as Paul said, encompasses everything else," said Mayer.”

https://www.smh.com.au/technology/dont-be-evil-or-dont-lose-...

We forget that many companies are founded by passionate engineers; however they may change over time.