In May 2024, around 200 employees at Google DeepMind (representing roughly 5 percent of the division) signed a letter urging the company to end its contracts with military organizations, expressing concerns that its AI technology was being used for warfare, Time magazine reported.
Google DeepMind staff call for end to military contracts
The open letter has the support of nearly 200 DeepMind staffers.
The open letter has the support of nearly 200 DeepMind staffers.
The letter states that employee concerns aren’t “about the geopolitics of any particular conflict,” but it does link out to Time’s reporting on Google’s defense contract with the Israeli military, known as Project Nimbus. The letter reportedly points to news articles on Israeli weapons companies being forced to use Amazon and Google for cloud hosting and on the country’s military choosing Gaza bombing targets and conducting mass surveillance via AI.
The letter highlights tensions within Google between its AI division and its cloud business, which sells AI services to militaries. At the company’s flagship Google I/O conference earlier this year, pro-Palestine protestors chained together at the attendee entrance, protesting Lavender, “Where’s Daddy?” software, the “Gospel” AI program, and Project Nimbus.
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The use of AI in warfare has spread rapidly, pushing some technologists who build related systems to speak out. But Google also made a specific commitment: when it acquired DeepMind in 2014, the lab’s leaders required that their AI technology would never be used for military or surveillance purposes.
“Any involvement with military and weapon manufacturing impacts our position as leaders in ethical and responsible AI, and goes against our mission statement and stated AI Principles,” the letter that circulated inside Google DeepMind says.
As Time reports, the letter from DeepMind staff urges its leadership to investigate potential abuses and set up protections going forward. The letter writers want to see military access to DeepMind’s technology be cut off and for the company to investigate claims that militaries and weapons manufacturers are using Google’s cloud servers. They’re also asking for a new governance body to be set up to prevent future use of the AI by militaries.
Time reports that despite employee concerns and calls for action, there has been “no meaningful response” from Google so far.
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