Google DeepMind workers have signed a letter calling on the company to cancel contracts with military organizations, ai-deepmind-military-contracts-israel%2F” class=”link rapid-with-clickid etailiffa-link” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:according to a report by Time;elm:affiliate_link;sellerN:time;elmt:;cpos:1;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>According to a report by TimeThe document was drafted on May 16 this year and signed by around 200 people, which is five percent of DeepMind's total employees.
For the uninitiated, DeepMind is one of Google’s ai divisions and the letter claims that the adoption of military contracts contravenes the company’s own ai standards. The letter was sent as internal concerns began to circulate within the ai lab about the technology being allegedly sold to military organizations through cloud contracts.
According TimeGoogle's contracts with the US military and the Israeli military allow access to cloud-based services, and this reportedly includes ai technology developed by DeepMind. The letter does not dwell on any specific military organisation, with the workers stressing that “it is not about the geopolitics of any particular conflict.”
Reports since 2021 have slowly revealed the extent of technology supplied by Google (and amazon) to the Israeli government through a partnership known as Project NimbusThis is not the first case of Google employees openly protesting that their work is being used to support politically charged military objectives. dismissed Dozens of staff members spoke out against Project Nimbus earlier this year.
“Any involvement in weapons and weaponization undermines our position as a leader in ethical and responsible ai, and runs counter to our mission statement and ai principles,” DeepMind’s letter says. It’s worth noting that Google’s slogan used to be “don’t be evil.”
The letter goes on to call on DeepMind leaders to deny military users access to its ai technology and to create a new internal governing body to prevent the technology from being used by future militaries. According to four anonymous employees, Google has yet to offer a tangible response to the letter. “We have not received a meaningful response from management,” one said, “and we are growing increasingly frustrated.”
Google responded to Times reporting, saying that it complies ai.google/responsibility/principles/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:with its ai principles;cpos:4;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>with its ai principlesThe company says the contract with the Israeli government “is not aimed at military, classified or highly sensitive tasks related to weapons or intelligence services.” However, its partnership with the Israeli government has come under heavy scrutiny in recent months.
Google bought DeepMind in 2014, but with the promise that its ai technology would never be used for military or surveillance purposes. For many years, DeepMind was allowed to operate with a fair degree of independence from its parent company, but the growing ai race appears to have changed that. The lab's leaders spent years seeking greater autonomy from Google, ai-autonomy-from-parent-11621592951″ class=”link rapid-with-clickid etailiffa-link” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:but were rebuffed in 2021;elm:affiliate_link;sellerN:The Wall Street Journal;elmt:;cpos:7;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>but were rejected in 2021.
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