Around 600 Google employees sent a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday, urging him not to let the company’s AI technology be used by the US military for classified operations.
The letter, signed by employees in Google’s DeepMind and Cloud divisions, cited a recent Information report that Google and the Pentagon were negotiating the use of Google’s Gemini AI in classified settings.
“As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes,” the employees wrote in the letter. “We feel that our proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses.”
“Currently, the only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads,” employees continued in the letter. “Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them.”
Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Google has not yet responded to the letter, said Jane Chung, the founder of Justice Speaks, a communications firm representing the workers. Bloomberg first reported on the letter.
Google has long faced internal pushback to its efforts to work with the US military. In 2018, it decided not to renew Project Maven, a Department of Defense contract to integrate AI into military operations, following pressure from hundreds of employees. Palantir later picked up the deal.
The same year, Google established a set of AI principles, including a pledge not to use AI for weapons or surveillance. Last year, it updated those AI principles to remove wording around weapons and surveillance.
The company also secured new contracts with the Pentagon last year to use its AI and cloud products. In March, the company said it would provide the Pentagon with AI agents in a non-classified setting. It also told Google DeepMind employees during a January meeting that they should expect more of these types of deals.
In the letter, Google employees raised concerns that classified work would lead to a lack of oversight into how the company’s technology is used.
“We want to see AI benefit humanity; not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways,” the employees wrote. “This includes lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance but extends beyond.”
Read the full letter below:
Dear Sundar, We are Google employees who are deeply concerned about ongoing negotiations between Google and the US Department of Defense. As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes. We feel that our proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses. Therefore, we ask you to refuse to make our AI systems available for classified workloads. We want to see AI benefit humanity; not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways. This includes lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance but extends beyond. Currently, the only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads. Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them. Making the wrong call right now would cause irreparable damage to Google’s reputation, business, and role in the world. At this very moment, the safety of our own workforce and critical infrastructure are under active threat. Human lives are already being lost and civil liberties put at risk at home and abroad from misuses of the technology we’re playing a key role in building. We know from our own history that our leaders can make the right choices, for ourselves and for the world, when the stakes are high. Today, we call on you, Sundar, to act according to the values on which this company was built, and refuse classified workloads.
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