Google’s UK-based DeepMind workers have voted to unionize, seeking recognition from the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union, according to The Guardian. The vote took place in April, motivated by reports of a potential deal between Google and the US Defense Department.
Workers expressed concerns regarding the US government’s reliability, citing its “capricious Iran war” and conflicts with Anthropic. These issues, they argued, illustrated that the Defense Department may not be a responsible partner for collaboration.
Last week, the Pentagon announced that it had signed agreements with several leading AI companies, including Google. The contracts allow the Department to use their AI technologies for “any lawful use,” as reported by The Information. Notably, the agreements prohibit the government from employing the technologies for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons projects without appropriate human oversight.
However, the companies, including Google, do not possess any rights to control or veto how the US government uses their AI technologies. Google Gemini and other AI technologies included in the deal were developed by the DeepMind team.
Some DeepMind workers raised alarms about their technology potentially aiding the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Reports indicate that Google has collaborated with the IDF to grant broader access to its AI tools and previously entered into a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government in 2021.
The workers aim to pressure Google to commit to not developing technology intended to cause harm or injury to individuals. They also seek the establishment of an independent ethics oversight body and the right to refuse participation in specific projects on moral grounds.
