Google, facing an internal rebellion, will end its work with the U.S. military
Google is breaking up with the Pentagon.
The tech company has made it clear that when a contract with the United States Department of Defense expires in 2019, said contract won't be renewed. Employees were informed on Friday when Diane Greene, the head of Google Cloud, shared the news during a weekly meeting.
According to Gizmodo, the announcement was motivated by a desire to shut down an employee rebellion before it could go any further. Google's internal unrest became the subject of public record back in April, when thousands signed a letter protesting the company's work with the Defense Department.
Greene made the announcement because it was her Google Cloud division that won the Pentagon contract. Their work on Project Maven aimed to use artificial intelligence to better interpret video imagery that would, in turn, improve the targeting capabilities of military drones.
In the April letter, employees raised concerns about the company's work on what amounted to a military project.
"We believe that Google should not be in the business of war," the letter begins. "Therefore we ask that Project Maven be cancelled, and that Google draft, publicize and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology."
Google has been wrestling internally for months with the prospect of military work. Emails viewed by The New York Times show that the initial contract was valued at $9 million, "or a possible $15 million over 18 months." That's small by Google standards, in light of the company's reported $110.8 billion in revenue for 2017.
But higher-ups apparently viewed the Project Maven contract as a gateway into future work. An internal email from September suggested that Maven could eventually grow into a $250 million-a-year contract, and eventually lead to a multi-year, multi-billion dollar deal to work on a cloud computing project called Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI).
It seems now that the internal pushback bred doubts about that line of thinking. The April letter, which was signed by around 4,000 employees, including a number of top engineers, was followed by resignations and more public appeals for the company to reconsider its strategy.
Gizmodo doesn't quote Greene directly, though the report points out that Google wouldn't have pursued the Maven contract in today's climate, given the backlash. She added that the company, which recently scrubbed "Don't Be Evil" from its official code of conduct, will share its new ethical framework regarding the use of AI next week.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
