WASHINGTON: Thousands of Google employees, including dozens of senior engineers, have signed a letter protesting the company's involvement in a Pentagon programme that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video imagery and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes.The letter, which is circulating inside Google and has garnered more than 3,100 signatures, reflects a culture clash between Silicon Valley and the federal government that is likely to intensify as cutting-edge artificial intelligence is increasingly employed for military purposes.
"We believe that Google should not be in the business of war," says the letter, addressed to Sundar Pichai, the company's chief executive. It asks that Google pull out of Project Maven, a Pentagon pilot programme, and announce a policy that it will not "ever build warfare technology."
Without referring to the letter to Pichai, Google said in a statement that "any military use of machine learning naturally raises valid concerns." It added, "We're actively engaged across the company in a comprehensive discussion of this important topic." The company called such exchanges "hugely important and beneficial," though several Google employees would speak of the letter only on the condition of anonymity, saying they were concerned about retaliation.