Thousands of Google employees are urging Google CEO Sundar Pichai to end the company’s involvement in a Pentagon program aimed at improving military technology.
“We believe that Google should not be in the business of war,” read the letter which has gained over 3,100 signatures as of press time. “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.”
According to the New York Times, the Pentagon pilot program seeks to create artificial intelligence to collect videos from drones to pick out and identify humans to improve drone strike accuracy and potentially save lives.
The request to pull out of Project Maven is the latest in an ongoing clash between Silicon Valley and the federal government, which is looking to employ cutting-edge technology for military endeavors.
Employees raised concerns about the company’s involvement with the program at a recent meeting where executives sought to defend the deal and address staff concerns.
A Google spokesperson said most of the signatures on the protest letter to Pichai circulating were collected before they had the chance to explain the company’s involvement and answer any worries.
In a statement provided to the newspaper, Google said that “any military use of machine learning naturally raises valid concerns,” adding that their involvement with the program was “specifically scoped to be for non-offensive purposes.”
