Staff inside Google DeepMind are attempting to unionise in order to challenge the tech company’s ties with the Israeli government and its decision to sell artificial intelligence technologies to defence groups, according to reports.
Figures with knowledge of the organising spoke to the Financial Times and said approximately 300 employees inside Google DeepMind, the company’s artificial intelligence London office, want to join the Communication Workers Union (CWU).
“We’re putting two and two together and think the technology we’re developing is being used in the conflict [in Gaza],” said one engineer involved in the unionisation effort.
“This is basically cutting-edge AI that we’re providing to an ongoing conflict. People don’t want their work used like this.”
Three people involved with the unionisation efforts told the FT that media reports over Israel’s use of artificial intelligence to wage its war on Gaza and its ongoing partnership with Google have spurred employees in DeepMind to consider unionising.
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The Israeli government has a $1.2bn cloud computing agreement with Google and Amazon called Project Nimbus.
Correspondence seen by the FT also shows that five people have quit DeepMind in the last two months because of the company’s involvement with Israel and its reversal of commitments regarding the use of AI for defence.
Google will need to recognise the union, with its AI division employing approximately 2,000 people.
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According to one worker, if Google recognised the union, the workers would request a meeting with management to cut their defence deals. If this fails, the workers would consider strike action.
A Google spokesperson told the FT that it complies with its AI principles for responsible development but that the landscape has changed since its 2018 pledge against AI weapons and surveillance.
Last May, nearly 200 DeepMind workers signed an open letter calling on Google to drop its contracts with military organisations.
Google is no stranger to internal protest. Last year, the company fired several staff members who protested Nimbus.
In 2018, thousands of Google employees signed a petition to protest Project Maven, a contract with the US military that used AI to improve drone strikes. Google subsequently did not renew its contract with the Pentagon and pledged not to use AI technologies for defence.
