Over 600 Google employees jointly call on Pichai to refuse the Pentagon's confidential AI contract

CoinWorld News reports that over 600 Google employees have jointly written to CEO Sundar Pichai, demanding that AI models not be deployed on the Pentagon’s classified networks. The letter states that signatories include a large number of Google DeepMind researchers and more than 20 executives. Employees are concerned about the isolation of classified networks from the public internet, as Google cannot monitor the use of models or implement technical safeguards. The trigger for this joint letter was a report by The Information, which stated that Google is negotiating with the Pentagon to deploy Gemini into classified environments, with a contract allowing the Pentagon “for all lawful purposes.” Google has already provided access to the Pentagon through the genai.mil platform. Deputy Secretary of Defense Emil Michael said that non-classified use is just the beginning, and in the future, it will extend to classified and top-secret levels. This is Google’s second large-scale protest regarding the militarization of AI; in 2018, 4,000 employees opposed Project Maven, ultimately leading Google to decline to renew the contract and establish a principle against using AI for weapons.