Hundreds of Google employees signed an open letter on Monday urging CEO Sundar Pichai not to allow the Pentagon to use the company’s artificial intelligence systems for classified workloads.
The letter, which was signed by more than 18 senior staff members and hundreds of other employees, stated that the signatories feel their “proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses.”
Concerns were expressed about potential lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance uses, but "extend beyond" that, according to the letter.
“Currently, the only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads,” it continued.
In addition to concerns over unethical use, the signatories expressed concern about the platform's accuracy, noting that AI systems do make mistakes.
Potential deal between Pentagon and Google
The letter follows a report published in The Information on negotiations between the US Department of Defense and Google over a possible deal.
The report stated that the agreement would allow the Pentagon to use Google’s AI for all lawful uses.
These reported negotiations come two months after the Department of Defense called Anthropic a supply-chain risk, a label the government can apply to companies that expose military systems to potential infiltration or sabotage by adversaries.
Hegseth’s unprecedented move to bar Anthropic from certain military contracts followed the company's refusal to allow the military to use its AI chatbot, Claude, for US surveillance or autonomous weapons.
US President Donald Trump also urged all government departments to stop using Anthropic systems.
Reuters contributed to this report.