News

Google Faces Criticism From Its Employees Over Pentagon AI Project

Google employees want the company not to involve in the ‘business of war’

Google AI project

Google is currently helping the US Department Of Defense (DOD) for a project called Maven. With the assistance of the search giant, the military is conducting a research analysis on the drone footages from the war zone. On Google’s involvement in the DOD project almost 3,100 employees have signed a letter to CEO, Sundar Pichai asking the company to pull out of the Pentagon AI project. 

Last month, The New York Times reported that some of the Google employees aren't comfortable with company’s contribution to the “Business of war”. According to the reports the Project Maven was initiated with the Google and DOD collaboration in April 2017. Under the project Maven, Google allowed the department to access TensorFlow, its open source machine learning software. With the help of the machine learning and AI, Google is helping the military to recognize the content of the drone footages. The application is capable of using the deep learning to provide details of the objects on the photos that are too hard to understand for the humans.   

“We believe that Google should not be in the business of war”, the letter reads.”This plan will irreparably damage Google’s brand and its ability to compete for talent. Amid growing fears of biased and weaponized AI, Google is already struggling to keep the public trust. By entering into this contract, Google will join the ranks of companies like Palantir, Raytheon, and General Dynamics.”

In response to the employees’ concern Diane Greene, Alphabets board of members and the head of the Google cloud operation said the technology will not be used to operate drones or launch any weapon. He assured that the project Maven is just for assisting the defense department in acquiring the better details on the drone photo pages so that the department can take life-saving decisions. However, the words from Greene weren't convincing enough for the employees as they wrote,” While this eliminates a narrow set of direct applications, the technology is being built for the military, and once it’s delivered it could easily be used to assist in these tasks”. 

Google has always been clear about its values of supporting the peace, Google’s motto says ‘Don't be Evil’. This means Google didn't want to be part of any inhuman activity as it touches the lives of billions directly. Google isn't the only one helping the country’s armed forces in a project, Earlier tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon have also contributed their efforts. 

Arpit Dubey
Written By
Arpit Dubey

Arpit is a dreamer, wanderer, and a tech nerd who loves to jot down tech musings and updates. With a logician mind, he is always chasing sunrises and tech advancements while secretly preparing for the robot uprising.

Think Your Professional Journey
Deserves A Spot In Our 40 Under 40 Report?

Latest Blogs

News

You May Soon Be Able To Play Games On LinkedIn. But Why?

4 min read  

What do you go to LinkedIn for? Till now, the 8 billion users LinkedIn has gained use it for finding jobs, strengthening professional networks, and finding clients. Multiple app researchers have recently identified codes indicating a potential gaming platform built on the social media app.The Mi

News

Apple Buys Darwin AI To Rival Google, Microsoft & OpenAI

4 min read  

Apple has been evidently silent about its AI developments in the last two years. But, its actions related to building the AI capabilities have always found a way into the limelight. In recent times, Apple bought an AI startup that was leading the space of making AI tools smaller and more compact. Af

News

Devin AI Chatbot Poses Great Threat To The Developer Community

4 min read  

Generative AI has disrupted the software development industry on the surface, but it is yet far from taking over their jobs. But, with Cognition AI’s latest Devin chatbot, things might change for the developer’s worse. Devin AI is a powerful coding assistant that can manage the entire so

News

CERT-In Finds Severe Security Issues In Google Chrome For Web

4 min read  

Google Chrome is the go-to web browser for 3.46 billion users worldwide. In India, the number has gone up to 692 million monthly active users. The Indian government’s Computer Emergency Response Team has released a new security issue with a high to severe rating for all Google Chrome desktop b

Featured Interviews

Interview

Interview With Coyote Jackson, Director of Product Management, PubNub

MobileAppDaily had a word with Coyote Jackson, Director of Product Management, PubNub. We spoke to him about his journey in the global Data Stream Network and real-time infrastructure-as-a-service company. Learn more about him.

MAD Team 4 min read  
Interview

Interview With Laetitia Gazel Anthoine, Founder and CEO, Connecthings

MobileAppDaily had a word with Laetitia Gazel Anthoine, Founder and CEO, Connecthings. We spoke to her about her idea behind Connecthings and thoughts about the company’s services.

MAD Team 4 min read  
Interview

Interview With Gregg Temperley, Founder Of ParcelBroker App

MobileAppDaily had a word with Gregg Temperley, Founder. We spoke to him about his idea behind such an excellent app and his whole journey during the development process.

MAD Team 4 min read  
Interview

Interview With George Deglin, CEO Of OneSignal

MobileAppDaily had a word with George Deglin, the CEO and co-founder of OneSignal, a leading customer messaging and engagement solution, we learn multiple facets related to customer engagement, personalization, and the future of mobile marketing.

MAD Team 4 min read