Department · Tom's Hardware
Google signs classified Pentagon AI deal but exits $100M drone swarm program — report asserts employees revolted over ethical fears, delivered letter to CEO Pichai
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 outlet. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◌ Single Source
Google amended its existing contract with the U.S. Department of Defense on Monday to extend Gemini's availability to classified networks, granting the Pentagon permission to deploy the models for "any lawful government purpose.
Key facts
- Google faced a similar internal revolt in 2018 over Project Maven, a Pentagon contract for AI analysis of drone surveillance footage
- More than 600 Google employees delivered a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday urging him to reject the classified deal, arguing that it was the only way to prevent Google's AI from being misused
- Separately, the same day that Google had withdrawn from a $100 million Pentagon prize challenge to build voice-controlled autonomous drone swarm technology in February, following an internal ethics
- A spokesperson for Google Public Sector told The Information that the company is "proud to be part of a broad consortium of leading AI labs and technology and cloud companies providing AI services
Summary
Google amended its existing contract with the U.S. Google joins OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI in granting the Pentagon broad classified AI access. Google's agreement requires the company to help modify its AI safety settings and filters at the government's request, with the contract including language stating that the AI system shouldn’t be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons “without appropriate human oversight and control,” but also specifies that the deal doesn’t give Google “any right to… veto lawful government operational decision-making,” which doesn’t make the agreed restrictions appear particularly solid. A spokesperson for Google Public Sector told The Information that the company is "proud to be part of a broad consortium of leading AI labs and technology and cloud companies providing AI services and infrastructure in support of national security.