The employees highlighted that they were particularly worried about the military deals involving the Pentagon as they ‘greatly increase’ the scope of what the US government can use the technology for. Several Google DeepMind staff members have resigned, stating they were feeling ‘ashamed to work’ at the company due to the tech giant’s deployment of its artificial intelligence (AI) technology for military use.
This is not the first instance when Google has come under scrutiny for its dealings with the military. Alex Turner, a research scientist who worked for more than two years on AI safety at Google DeepMind, quit the company in June, stating that he made the decision soon after it became clear that the Pentagon was going to use Google’s AI capabilities for classified work.
“Realising my company is pushing more and more for AI systems in military operations makes me feel ashamed to work at Google,” Sofia Liguori, a London-based research engineer who resigned this week, was quoted as saying by the BBC . He said Google’s internal governance and oversight were inadequate to deal with the issue. “Google seems to have no right to control or veto how the Pentagon uses its AI and also seems to have limited visibility into how it’s being deployed,” he said. Reacting to the string of resignations, a Google spokesperson said the company has always worked with public institutions whilst following its compliance policies.
Another departing employee, AI researcher Andreas Kirsch, resigned earlier this month.
