Nearly 300 Google DeepMind employees are seeking to unionize to protest against military use of AI and Google's contract with Israel

by Jernej Furman from Slovenia

Around 300 employees of Google DeepMind UK are seeking to join the UK tech company's trade union, the Communication Workers Union (CWU), in protest against the company's decision to sell AI technology to defence companies and its ties to the Israeli government.

DeepMind UK staff seek to unionise and challenge defense deals and Israel links
https://www.ft.com/content/4e497a91-670a-4f69-be4a-18e247daba3e

The move to join the CWU comes after growing discontent within Google over its February 2025 pledge not to develop 'AI technologies that could cause systemic harm, including weapons or surveillance.'

Will Google remove its pledge not to use AI for weapons from its website?

Google's $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, called ' Project Nimbus ,' also caused concern within the company.

Five Google DeepMind employees have reportedly quit over the company's cloud computing contract with Israel and the company's decision to backtrack on existing commitments regarding its use of AI, while employees in the US have been fired after staging a sit-in protest against Project Nimbus.

Google fires about 20 more employees who took part in protests against Israeli cloud contracts, bringing total number of employees fired for protests to more than 50 - GIGAZINE

A Google spokesperson said, 'Our approach has always been to develop and deploy AI responsibly, and we encourage constructive and open dialogue with all employees.' The company still adheres to its AI Principles for Responsible Development, but the situation has changed significantly.

If Google DeepMind employees are allowed to join the CWU, the group will ask management to change its defense contracting policy, and if that doesn't happen, it will consider labor action. Google DeepMind's US employees are also said to be discussing unionization.

A CWU official said, 'When DeepMind (the predecessor company of Google DeepMind) was founded, it attracted many talented people who wanted to work for genuine good, but after it was absorbed by Google, it started chasing military money.' He also explained that Google DeepMind employees are well paid, and that 'we joined the union not to negotiate wages, but to hold Google accountable for the ethics it once upheld.'