Google signed a classified agreement with the US Department of Defence on Monday, allowing the Pentagon to deploy its artificial intelligence on secret military networks, just hours after more than 600 of the company's own employees publicly demanded that CEO Sundar Pichai reject the deal.

Andreas Kirsch, a research scientist at Google DeepMind, toldBusiness Insiderhe was 'incredibly ashamed' after the deal was confirmed. 'I'm speechless at Google signing a deal to use our AI models for classified tasks,' Kirsch said, adding that he had woken to a 'worst-case version' of what employees had feared.

I do not understand how this is "doing the right thing," and I think this violates "don't be evil" quite clearly on many levels.I personally feel incredibly ashamed right now to be Senior Research Scientist at Google DeepMind and I wonder how I'm supposed to do my work today

The agreement, first reported byThe Information, permits the Pentagon to use Google's Gemini AI models on classified networks for 'any lawful government purpose.' Reuters reported that such deals with major AI labs were worth up to $200 million (£148 million) each.

The contract bars the use of AI for autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance without human oversight, but also states that Google cannot 'control or veto lawful government operational decision-making.'

Google toldBusiness Insiderthe agreement was an amendment to an existing contract.

The employee letter, signed by staff across Google DeepMind, Cloud, and other divisions, warned that classified military AI work could cause 'irreparable damage to Google's reputation, business, and role in the world.' More than 20 directors, senior directors, and vice presidents signed openly.

'We want to see AI benefit humanity, not being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways,' the letter read. 'The only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads.'

Sofia Liguori, an AI research engineer at Google DeepMind in the UK, told Bloomberg the company's response to worker concerns had been to encourage staff to trust leadership. 'But it's all left very broad,' she said.

The backlash echoes Google's 2018 Project Maven crisis, when roughly 4,000 employees signed a petition, and several resigned over a Pentagon contract that used AI to analyse drone footage. Google abandoned the project.

Source: International Business Times UK