SAN FRANCISCO — Hundreds of Google employees sent a letter to the company’s CEO on Monday demanding that he bar the Pentagon from using Google’s artificial intelligence for classified work, two months after rival AI company Anthropic was dropped by the Defense Department for requesting a similar restriction.
The letter was signed by more than 600 Google employees, many from its elite DeepMind AI lab, according to a copy of the letter seen by The Washington Post. It asked the company’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, not to enter into any agreement with the Defense Department that allowed for uses of the company’s AI that are classified. The letter argued that such work would prevent Google representatives from knowing how the company’s technology was used.
“We want to see AI benefit humanity; not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways. This includes lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance but extends beyond,” the workers wrote in the letter.
“The only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads. Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them,” the letter said.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter comes as artificial intelligence is increasingly central to modern warfare, triggering debate in the tech industry over whether AI companies or their employees should have a say in how the military uses their technology.
Pentagon leaders have recently asserted that it must have freedom to use commercial AI technology for “all lawful uses,” a phrase officials have said allows flexibility in different situations while still following U.S. law and military procedures.
But some AI workers say such assurances are not enough. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump threatened to bomb “every” bridge and power plant in Iran, an action that experts told The Post would violate international law. The Trump administration’s strikes on boats it alleges were carrying drugs have also been questioned by international law experts.
“Human lives are already being lost and civil liberties put at risk at home and abroad from misuses of the technology we’re playing a key role in building,” the Google employees wrote in their petition, without specifying which technology they were referring to.
Anthropic, maker of the popular chatbot Claude, saw its technology rapidly integrated last year into U.S. military systems for helping to sort through data and identify potential targets, The Post has reported. But the company was abruptly barred from all work with the Defense Department in February after it sought to add a contractual clause to ensure that its technology would not be used for mass surveillance and to power lethal autonomous weapons.
The government and Anthropic are fighting in court over whether the Pentagon acted legally in cutting off the company.
Anthropic’s dispute with the Pentagon increased the scrutiny on AI rivals such as Google and OpenAI, which both provide AI technology to the U.S. military.
OpenAI signed a deal to provide AI for classified workloads in February, soon after Anthropic was dropped by the Pentagon. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has said that he is confident its contract with the government means that its technology will not be used for mass surveillance in the U.S. or for lethal autonomous weapons.
The letter from Google employees sent Monday cites a report from tech news outlet the Information earlier this month, which said the company was in negotiations with the Pentagon for a similar deal to that of OpenAI. The letter urges Google to refuse any and all classified work to ensure that its technology isn’t used in ways that might harm civil or human rights.
Google has a history of internal debate when it comes to military use of its technology. In 2018, the company decided not to renew a deal with the Pentagon that saw its AI software used to recognize objects in drone imagery after hundreds of employees signed a petition demanding an end to the work.
Google introduced a pledge that its AI technology would never be used for weapons or surveillance after the 2018 protest. But in recent years the company has actively sought more military contracts.
Last year, Google dropped its limits on use of AI for weapons and surveillance. In December, it signed a deal for the Defense Department to use its Gemini AI technology.
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