Google AI workers sound alarm

Three months ago, over 200 Google DeepMind employees signed a letter, asking Google to cut its contracts with military organizations.

In the letter, employees expressed their concern that Google was selling AI technology, developed by them, inside their AI lab, to militaries, engaged in warfare, which is a violation of Google’s own AI principle, which was—when it acquired DeepMind in 2014—that their AI technology would never be used for military or surveillance purposes.

Although they don’t refer to any specific military organization or conflict, they do reference Project Nimbus, which is a contract Google has with the Israeli military to supply them with cloud computing and AI services. It also highlights that the Israeli military uses AI for mass surveillance and targeted bombing campaigns, with Israeli weapons firms required, by government law, to purchase cloud services from either Google or Amazon. 

They urge the Google leadership team to uphold their AI Principles by investigating these allegations, cutting military access to its AI technology, and creating a governance body to stop military clients from accessing its AI in the future, as “any involvement with military and weapon manufacturing impacts our position as leaders in ethical and responsible AI.”

Three months on and, despite the workers' pleas, Google leadership has failed to action any of their suggestions and hasn’t provided them with any sort of “meaningful response,” which is a source of significant frustration for the 200+ signatories.