According to The Information, Alphabet’s subsidiary is currently in talks with the Pentagon regarding its artificial intelligence.
More than 600 Google employees have signed a letter, published on Monday, urging the group’s management to refrain from providing its artificial intelligence models to the U.S. military for classified operations. Several company executives are among the signatories, according to a statement viewed by AFP. “As it stands, there is no way to ensure that our tools will not be used to cause terrible harm or infringe on individual liberties, away from prying eyes,” commented one of the employees in the statement, whose name was not revealed.
The Ministry of Defense is looking to diversify its artificial intelligence as it still relies on that of Anthropic, with which it is currently in dispute.
In late February, the Trump administration declared the termination of all contracts with the California startup, a decision contested in court by Anthropic. It then reached an agreement with OpenAI to integrate its models into classified operations, but the process will take several months.
Like Anthropic, Google has requested that its artificial intelligence not be used for mass surveillance in the United States or for lethal attacks. However, the government believes it is sufficient for Google to commit to acting within the bounds of the law.
Google is already a provider to the Department of Defense, but for non-classified activities. In 2018, an internal movement pushed the group to withdraw from participating in Project Maven, which used AI to analyze imagery collected by drones.
