Google employees urge CEO to reject Pentagon AI use in classified work

Hundreds of employees at Google have urged CEO Sundar Pichai not to allow the company’s artificial intelligence tools to be used by the Pentagon in classified settings.

In an open letter, employees working on AI projects expressed concerns about the company’s ongoing talks with the US Department of Defense, arguing that the technology is not suitable for "classified workloads."

"We feel that our proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses," the letter read. "Therefore, we ask you to refuse to make our AI systems available for classified workloads."

"We want to see AI benefit humanity," they said, and not be used in "inhumane or extremely harmful ways."

As people working in AI, we know that these systems "do make mistakes," they said.

The letter cited lethal autonomous weapons and widespread surveillance as examples of how AI could be misused.

A poor decision at this stage could seriously harm Google’s reputation, business, and global standing, it cautioned.

Google is in discussions with the Defense Department about potentially using its AI for classified work, according to a report from The Information.

Earlier in the year, OpenAI reached a deal with the Pentagon that included an agreement not to use its technology for large-scale domestic surveillance or to control autonomous weapons.