The workforce at Google’s AI division, DeepMind has united for an important cause. They want the company to drop its military contracts that they feel are unjustified and spreading evil.
Workers united to sign an internal letter that was sent to Google, as reported in a recently published article by Time. It features 200 signatures and was sent in May of this year. This figure is equivalent to 5% of the company’s workforce who demand fast action.
DeepMind is the Android maker’s AI division and as per workers in the department, such contracts go against the firm’s own rules and regulations. It specified serious concerns related to AI labs and its technology was sold to leading military groups, thanks to AI cloud agreements in place.
Another report by Time specified how several contracts were held with the American military and those in Israel. The goal was to give the latter access to Google’s top service through cloud technology. There is no specific name of any group mentioned in the letter. Furthermore, the letter fails to delineate any kind of geopolitics linked to the war or any other conflict. It was a neutral stance.
Clearly, this is not the first time that we’ve seen the company be accused of this act. Since the start of 2021, many shed light on how tech provided by Google to Israel’s military was set into place. The controversial contract Project Nimbus was said to be the main reason here.
This happens to be far from the initial instance of workers at Google who protested openly. They did not wish to see their hard work and efforts be used for this cause. Similarly, we saw dozens of employees protest against Project Nimbus this year too. Some were suspended while others terminated.
The letter published recently explained how contracts with these forces mean direct involvement with the military. This includes helping them irresponsibly produce weapons through AI that is used irresponsibly. Did we mention how Google’s slogan from day one is ‘Don’t be evil?’ Clearly, the company might need to rethink that, as per employees.
Additionally, the letter asks the heads of the DeepMind division to say no to military access to AI technology. Instead, they want a new in-house body set up that regulates the issues and stops the tech from getting misused by other military groups in the future.
So far, Google is silent on the matter and no response has been generated. They do hope a meaningful reply does arrive soon but until then, the frustration on the workers’ part can be felt.
Google did however generate a reply to the article published by Time. It clearly says that the company is following all AI principles and therefore complies with all of its policies. They want the world to know that the agreement with Israel’s government isn’t linked to any sensitive military operations like weapons production or even intelligence services.
That’s shocking because this deal has been called out for months and is constantly scrutinized.
Google’s DeepMind division became a part of the organization in 2014 but it did vow to never utilize it to cause harm to others. This includes no use in military operations and for any surveillance endeavors.
For years, DeepMind operated far from Google’s interference but the current AI race may have altered that. While the heads of this division did wish to get more independence from Google’s leadership, it was far from what it hoped for.
Image: DIW-Aigen
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