Google is facing a backlash from some staff members over the company’s deployment of its AI technology for military use.
Several tech workers who have either recently resigned from Google’s AI company, Google DeepMind, or are in the process of leaving, over concerns with the tech firm’s military contracts. Sofia Liguori, a London-based research engineer, is one of them. She resigned from Google DeepMind this week and spoke about her concerns, despite her contract restricting her from doing so.
“Realising my company is pushing more and more for AI systems in military operations makes me feel ashamed to work at Google,” Liguori said, speaking in a personal capacity.
Google is one of several tech companies that signed contracts with the US military earlier this year to deploy AI across classified military environments. Pete Hegseth, Us defence secretary has made it clear that AI has a major role to play in mailitary applications, saying the Trump administration will become an “AI-first warfighting force”.
But AI technology is evolving rapidly, and critics question whether it is reliable enough to be used in warfare without more testing, stronger guardrails and human oversight.
After working for the company for three years, Liguori said she decided to resign over Google’s increasing work with the US and Israeli militaries. “I don’t agree with this direction and this has led me to lose faith in my company being true to its stated ethical values,” she said.
Those values, according to Google, include implementing AI with “human oversight” and aligning the technology with “international law and human rights”. But former and current staff at the company, and experts the BBC spoke to, said they were concerned about the level of human oversight at critical moments.
