Google grants Pentagon AI access for classified military work as 600+ employees protest

Google expands Pentagon's access to its AI after Anthropic's refusal | TechCrunch

Google has granted the U.S. Department of Defense access to its AI for classified networks, essentially allowing all lawful uses, according to multiple news reports. This deal follows Anthropic's public stand against the Trump administration after the model maker refused to grant the DoD the same terms. The Pentagon wanted unrestricted use of AI, whereas Anthropic wanted guardrails to prevent its AI from being used for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Because Anthropic refused those use cases, the DoD branded the model maker a "supply-chain risk" -- a designation normally reserved for foreign adversaries. Anthropic and the DoD are now embroiled in a lawsuit, with a judge last month granting Anthropic an injunction against the designation while the case proceeds. Google marks the third AI company to try and turn Anthropic's loss into its own gain. OpenAI immediately signed a deal with the DoD, as did xAI. Google's agreement includes some language saying that it doesn't intend for its AI for use in domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons, The Wall Street Journal reports, which is similar to contract language with OpenAI. But it is unclear whether such provisions are legally binding or enforceable, per the WSJ. Google entered this deal even though 950 of its employees have signed an open letter asking it to follow Anthropic's lead and not sell AI to the Defense Department without similar guardrails. Google did not respond to a request for comment.

Google Moves Forward With Pentagon AI Deal Despite Employee Pushback

With more than a decade of experience, Nelson covers Apple and Google and writes about iPhone and Android features, privacy and security settings, and more. Google has reportedly signed an agreement allowing the US Department of Defense to use its AI models for classified work, despite an open letter from hundreds of employees urging the company to stay away from military uses that they say could become dangerous or impossible to oversee. The deal, reported earlier Tuesday by The Information, allows the Pentagon to use Google's AI tools for "any lawful government purpose," including sensitive military applications. Google joins OpenAI and xAI, which have also struck similar classified AI agreements with the Pentagon. The reported agreement includes language stating that Google's AI system is not intended for domestic mass surveillance or for autonomous weapons without appropriate human oversight. But it also says Google doesn't have the right to control or veto lawful government operational decisions, according to reports. Google will also help adjust safety settings and filters at the government's request. A Google spokesperson told CNET in an emailed statement that the company remains committed to the position that AI shouldn't be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without human oversight, and said providing API access to commercial models under standard practices is a "responsible approach" to supporting national security. The Pentagon declined to comment to CNET. The deal lands in the middle of an internal backlash. In an open letter addressed to CEO Sundar Pichai, more than 600 Google employees asked the company to "refuse to make our AI systems available for classified workloads." The employees wrote that because they work close to the technology, they have a responsibility to highlight and prevent its "most unethical and dangerous uses. "We want to see AI benefit humanity, not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways," the letter says. The employees said their concerns include lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance, but extend beyond those examples because classified work could happen without employees' knowledge or ability to stop it. The tension echoes one of Google's most prominent internal revolts. In 2018, thousands of workers protested Project Maven, a Pentagon program involving AI analysis of drone footage. Google later chose not to renew that contract. The company's posture toward military and national-security AI has shifted since then. Last year, Google removed a previous language from its AI principles that said it would not pursue technologies likely to cause overall harm, weapons, certain surveillance technologies or systems that violate widely accepted human rights and international law principles. In a February blog post updating Google's AI principles, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and senior vice president James Manyika wrote that "democracies should lead in AI development" and that companies and governments should work together to build AI that "protects people, promotes global growth and supports national security." For Google workers opposed to the deal, the concern is not just that AI could be used by the military, but that classified deployment removes the usual visibility around how a model is being used. "I feel incredibly ashamed," Andreas Kirsch, a Google DeepMind researcher, wrote in a public post on X reacting to the reported deal. The open letter from Google employees ends with a direct appeal to Google's CEO: "Today, we call on you, Sundar, to act according to the values on which this company was built, and refuse classified workloads."

Google employees ask Sundar Pichai to say no to classified military AI use

Over 600 Google employees signed a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai demanding that Google block the Pentagon from using its AI models for classified purposes, reports the Washington Post. Its organizers claim many of the signers work in Google's DeepMind AI lab, and include more than 20 principals, directors, and vice presidents. According to the Post, the letter says that "The only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads. Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them." Anthropic is currently in a legal battle with the Pentagon over being designated a "supply chain risk," after refusing to loosen guardrails around how the US military can use its AI models, with support from across the tech industry, including employees at Google. The letter specifically references a recent report by The Information that said Google and the Pentagon are discussing a deal for deploying its Gemini AI in classified settings. Microsoft already has deals to provide AI services in classified environments, and OpenAI announced a renegotiated agreement with the Pentagon in February.

Google signs classified Pentagon AI deal but exits $100 million drone swarm program -- report claims employees revolted over ethical fears, delivered letter to CEO Pichai

The company will sell the military unrestricted Gemini access, but won't build autonomous weapons technology. Google amended its existing contract with the U.S. Department of Defense on Monday to extend Gemini's availability to classified networks, granting the Pentagon permission to deploy the models for "any lawful government purpose." Separately, Bloomberg reported the same day that Google had withdrawn from a $100 million Pentagon prize challenge to build voice-controlled autonomous drone swarm technology in February, following an internal ethics review. Google joins OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI in granting the Pentagon broad classified AI access. On the deal, Pentagon AI chief Cameron Stanley said that avoiding dependence on a single vendor was a priority. Google's agreement requires the company to help modify its AI safety settings and filters at the government's request, with the contract including language stating that the AI system shouldn't be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons "without appropriate human oversight and control," but also specifies that the deal doesn't give Google "any right to... veto lawful government operational decision-making," which doesn't make the agreed restrictions appear particularly solid. A spokesperson for Google Public Sector told The Information that the company is "proud to be part of a broad consortium of leading AI labs and technology and cloud companies providing AI services and infrastructure in support of national security." Google notified the government on February 11 that it wouldn't continue in the drone swarm challenge, which sought technology for converting spoken commands into digital instructions for coordinating autonomous drones. The company officially cited a lack of resources, but internal records reviewed by Bloomberg showed the withdrawal followed an ethics review. More than 600 Google employees delivered a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday urging him to reject the classified deal, arguing that it was the only way to prevent Google's AI from being misused. Google faced a similar internal revolt in 2018 over Project Maven, a Pentagon contract for AI analysis of drone surveillance footage. The company let that contract lapse after roughly 4,000 employees signed a petition, and Palantir assumed the work, which has since grown into a $13 billion program of record. Anthropic declined to agree to similar "any lawful purpose" terms earlier this year, insisting on explicit restrictions against autonomous weapons and domestic mass surveillance. The Pentagon responded by designating the company a supply chain risk, a label a federal judge later called "Orwellian" while blocking its enforcement. That litigation remains ongoing. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

Google Allows Pentagon to Use Its AI in Classified Military Work

Google has reached an agreement with the US Defense Department to allow its artificial intelligence systems to be used for classified military work, according to a Pentagon official, a deal that came together as researchers at the company protested against it. A spokesperson for Alphabet Inc.'s Google told Bloomberg News that the company had amended its contract with the Pentagon. While many details of the deal remain unclear, the spokesperson said it included providing the Pentagon with API access, giving the agency the ability to connect directly with the company's software, but it didn't entail custom work or model development. "We believe that providing API access to our commercial models, including on Google infrastructure, with industry-standard practices and terms, represents a responsible approach to supporting national security," a company spokesperson said in a statement. "We remain committed to the private and public sector consensus that AI should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight," the spokesperson added. The Pentagon official asked not to be named to discuss contractual issues. The amended contract represents a significant new milestone in Google's provision of AI to the Pentagon, which has seen several instances of employees protesting the use of the company's technology for some military uses. The most recent happened on Monday, when hundreds of AI researchers sent a letter to Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai urging him to refuse to make the company's AI systems available for classified workloads for US defense missions. "We are Google employees who are deeply concerned about ongoing negotiations between Google and the US Department of Defense," reads the letter, which was provided to Bloomberg. "As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes." Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Plus Signed UpPlus Sign UpPlus Sign Up By continuing, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Google workers in 2018 also protested the company's use of its technology for Project Maven, a Pentagon initiative to use AI to analyze drone footage that has become the heart of how America makes war. The protests prompted the company to pledge not to make weapons and other potentially harmful technologies. Google said at the time that its work on Project Maven was intended for "non-offensive purposes," but in the face of protests and concerns that such technology could lead to lethal outcomes, the company decided not to renew its contract for Maven. Big Take: Pentagon, Anthropic and the Road to AI War (Podcast) The deal also follows a breakdown between the Pentagon and Anthropic PBC earlier this year over the use of AI for military applications. The Pentagon is seeking to eject Anthropic and its Claude AI tool from US defense supply chains and has been casting around for new tech giant AI partners. The Information previously reported on Google's deal to provide its AI systems to the Pentagon for classified work "for any lawful government purpose." Google also dropped out of a $100 million Pentagon prize challenge to create technology for voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarms after it was among the successful submissions. The decision followed an internal ethics review, according to records referencing it that were reviewed by Bloomberg. Google officially cited a lack of "resourcing," according to the records.

Google told staff it is 'proud' of Pentagon AI contract after internal backlash

Google has told its employees it "proudly" works with US military and will continue to do so, as the tech giant faces down opposition from hundreds of staff over a deal for its AI to be used in classified operations. Kent Walker, Alphabet's president of global affairs, said in a memo to staff on Tuesday: "We have proudly worked with defence departments since Google's earliest days and continue to believe that it is important to support national security in a thoughtful and responsible way." "Staying engaged with governments, including on national security, will help democracies benefit from responsible technologies," he added. Google on Monday signed a deal with the defence department that will allow its AI technology to be used in classified operations -- an extension of an existing $200mn contract to provide the Pentagon with AI tools. The decision comes amid a clash between Anthropic and the Pentagon. Dario Amodei, chief executive of the AI start-up, has said he refused to sign a deal with the defence department unless the government guaranteed that Anthropic's tools would not be used for mass domestic surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons. The government has said the start-up has no right to dictate national policy and moved to cancel Anthropic's government contracts. Walker acknowledged in the memo AI tools are "not appropriate for domestic mass surveillance or use in connection with autonomous weapons without appropriate human oversight". However, he said Google would support military uses of AI "in line with the approaches of other major AI labs". OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI have struck similar deals to Google. The search group's version of the deal was signed the same day that more than 560 employees sent an open letter to chief executive Sundar Pichai, urging him to walk away from talks because of concerns that its technology could be used in "inhumane or extremely harmful ways". In February, employees petitioned DeepMind's chief scientist Jeff Dean, asking him to "do everything in your power to stop any deal which crosses these basic red lines". Dean at the time posted on X: "Mass surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment and has a chilling effect on freedom of expression." The speed of Monday's decision has shocked researchers at its DeepMind AI lab, some of whom are concerned about the lack of oversight and regulation of cutting-edge AI models that they helped to build. One researcher told the FT that technical experts within Google were especially concerned because they are keenly aware of AI models' limitations and feel they can no longer guarantee their technology will not be applied to dangerous use cases. Staff are concerned that language of the contract permits AI to be used for "any lawful governmental purpose", people familiar with the terms said. Whilst the terms say Google's AI is "not intended for" domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without human control, the tech company does not get to "veto" government decision-making, the people said. Walker justified the decision saying Google had worked on classified initiatives for government agencies in the past, including on cyber security, translation for diplomatic activities and veterans' healthcare. He also noted all governments "already have access to AI technology on an open source . . . basis (including for national security purposes), and are already using widely available open-source software on their own systems". Following the agreement, employees who oppose the deal are now regrouping around demands for more transparency and better oversight of Google's AI products that will be used by the military, two people close to the efforts said. Google's response to recent employee activism is a significant change from the past. In 2018, several staff quit and thousands signed a petition against Project Maven, which used AI to improve drone strikes. Google did not renew the contract and pledged not to work on AI for weapons or surveillance. Google said: "We are proud to be part of a broad consortium . . . providing AI services and infrastructure in support of national security." The company said it was committed to a "consensus that AI should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight".

Google signs classified AI deal with Pentagon, The Information reports

April 28 (Reuters) - Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google joined a growing list of technology firms to sign a deal with the U.S. Department of Defense to use its artificial intelligence models for classified work, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The agreement allows the Pentagon to use Google's AI for "any lawful government purpose", the report added, putting it alongside OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, which also have deals to supply AI models for classified use. Classified networks are used to handle a ⁠wide range of sensitive work, including mission planning and weapons targeting. The Pentagon signed agreements worth up to $200 million each with major AI labs in 2025, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google. The Pentagon is seeking to preserve all flexibility in defense and not be limited by warnings from the technology's creators against powering weapons with unreliable AI. Google's agreement requires it to help in adjusting the company's AI safety settings and filters at the government's request. The contract includes language noting "the parties agree that the AI System is not intended ⁠for, and should not be used for, domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons (including target selection) without appropriate human oversight and control", according to the report, but also adds that the "Agreement does not confer any right to control or veto lawful Government operational decision-making". Reuters could not verify ⁠the report. Alphabet and the U.S. Department of Defense, which has now been renamed the Department of War by President Donald Trump, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Google ⁠Public Sector, the unit that handles U.S. government business, told The Information that the new agreement is an amendment to its existing contract. Reuters had earlier reported that the ⁠Pentagon had been pushing top AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic to make their tools available on classified networks without the standard restrictions they apply to users. Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Rashmi Aich Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Pentagon AI chief confirms DOD's expanded use of Google, says reliance on one model 'never a good thing'

Pentagon AI chief Cameron Stanley confirmed to CNBC that the Department of Defense is expanding its use of Google's Gemini artificial intelligence model, about two months after the DOD dropped Anthropic, designating it as a supply chain risk. The DOD is using Google's latest model for classified projects, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named because the specifics of the arrangement aren't public. The Information earlier reported that Google had signed a deal with the DOD for classified work, citing a person familiar with the matter. In addition to Gemini, the Pentagon is also working with OpenAI and other vendors to modernize wartime capabilities, Stanley told CNBC in a video interview. "Overreliance on one vendor is never a good thing," he said. "We're seeing that, especially in software." The DOD's embrace of Google comes amid a heated legal dispute with Anthropic. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., denied Anthropic's request to temporarily block the department's blacklisting of the AI company as a lawsuit challenging the sanction plays out. That ruling came after a judge in San Francisco, in a separate but related case, granted Anthropic a preliminary injunction that bars the Trump administration from enforcing a ban on the use of its Claude model. With the split decisions by the two courts, Anthropic is excluded from DOD contracts but is able to continue working with other government agencies during the litigation. A spokesperson for the DOD confirmed over email that the agency is not working with Anthropic at this time. President Donald Trump told CNBC last week that "it's possible" there will be a deal allowing Anthropic's models to be used within the DOD. Stanley said that by using Gemini, the Pentagon and U.S. warfighters are saving time and money. "There's a lot of different things that are saving thousands of man hours, literally thousands of man hours on a weekly basis," he said.

Google and the Pentagon sign classified deal to give the Department of Defense unfettered access to its AI models

Google has signed a deal that allows the US Department of Defense to use its AI models for "any lawful government purpose." This is according to a report by The Information, which also notes that the full details of the contract are classified. An anonymous source within the company has suggested that the two entities have agreed that the search giant's AI tech shouldn't be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons "without appropriate human oversight and control." However, the contract also reportedly doesn't give Google "any right to control or veto" anything the government decides to do. In other words, the famously trustworthy US government will just have to be taken at its word. "We believe that providing API access to our commercial models, including on Google infrastructure, with industry-standard practices and terms, represents a responsible approach to supporting national security," a Google spokesperson told Reuters. The spokesperson also echoed that the company holds the opinion that AI shouldn't be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight. Some might argue that the technology shouldn't be used for that stuff at all, oversight or not. To that end, nearly 600 Google employees just penned an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai to urge the company against making this kind of deal with the Pentagon. This stems from concerns that the tech would be used in "inhumane or extremely harmful ways." "Human lives are already being lost and civil liberties put at risk at home and abroad from misuses of the technology we are playing a key role in building," the letter states. "As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes." Google will join OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI in this endeavor, as they both have made classified AI deals with the US government. Anthropic had a deal in place, but refused the government's demands to remove weapon and surveillance-related safeguards. That refusal annoyed President Trump and the Pentagon so much that Anthropic was entirely blacklisted from federal use. This doesn't exactly sound like the actions of a government that is dedicated to "appropriate human oversight and control" of dangerous AI military tech. Engadget has reached out to Google to ask for more specifics and will update this post when we hear back.

Google Signs A.I. Deal With the Pentagon

Google said on Tuesday that it had signed a deal to provide the Pentagon with its artificial intelligence models for classified work, amid a dispute with Anthropic over how to responsibly use the technology during war. The agreement allows the Pentagon to use Google's A.I. for "any lawful governmental purpose," people with knowledge of the deal said. The language mirrored that of other deals that the Department of Defense struck last month with OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI to use their A.I. models on classified networks, said people who had reviewed the contracts. "We are proud to be part of a broad consortium of leading A.I. labs and technology and cloud companies providing A.I. services and infrastructure in support of national security," said Jenn Crider, a Google spokeswoman. "We remain committed to the private and public sector consensus that A.I. should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight." Google declined to comment on contractual details. The Pentagon declined to comment. The Information earlier reported details of the deal. The Pentagon has moved aggressively to secure agreements with Silicon Valley's biggest A.I. companies since January, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the technology should be widely integrated across the military. The move has led to friction between the Pentagon and some Silicon Valley companies over the role of technology in war. Anthropic, the start-up whose A.I. technology was first used on classified networks, refused to remove guardrails against using its A.I. for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance. The Pentagon countered that a company should not be telling it how to use A.I. In March, the Pentagon designated Anthropic a "supply chain risk, a label that effectively banned the San Francisco company from working with the federal government. Anthropic has since sued the Pentagon over the designation, and is seeking to continue working with other parts of the federal government. White House officials met with Anthropic about 10 days ago to discuss a compromise on how the company's A.I. could be used by the government. This month, Anthropic released a powerful A.I. model called Mythos, which many believe could be critical for security. Kate Congercontributed reporting. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

Google Staff Urge Pichai to Refuse Classified Military AI Work

Organizers of the letter said it has garnered more than 580 signatures, and will be sent to Pichai, as workers try to curtail the use of AI and the risks associated with such tools in classified national security settings. Hundreds of AI researchers at Alphabet Inc.'s Google have signed onto a letter urging Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai to refuse to make the company's artificial intelligence systems available for classified workloads for US defense missions, according to organizers of the effort. "We are Google employees who are deeply concerned about ongoing negotiations between Google and the US Department of Defense," reads the , which was provided to Bloomberg News. "As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes." Organizers of the letter said it has garnered more than 580 signatures, and about two thirds of signatories had agreed to be named while roughly a third requested anonymity. They said it would be sent to Pichai on Monday. Bloomberg spoke with three employees involved in organizing the letter, all of whom requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. The organizers shared some of those names for verification purposes, but Bloomberg wasn't able to vet the entire list. A spokesperson for Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The protest letter follows closely a legal imbroglio between the Pentagon and Anthropic PBC over the use of AI for military applications. The Pentagon is seeking to eject Anthropic and its Claude AI tool from US defense supply chains and is casting around for new tech giant AI partners. The workforce protest marks a new effort by workers in Silicon Valley to try to curtail the use of AI and the risks associated with such tools in classified national security settings. The Pentagon is seeking to pour billions of dollars into expanding military usage of AI and developing autonomous weapons. Google employees were among the first to sound the alarm about the risks of AI warfare in 2018 and force the company to limit its defense work. But the company's ties to the US defense industry have been re-established in recent years, and it has watered down its own AI red lines. "We want to see AI benefit humanity, not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways. This includes lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance but extends beyond," the letter states. "Currently, the only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads. Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them." Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Plus Signed UpPlus Sign UpPlus Sign Up By continuing, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Sofia Liguori, an AI research engineer at Google DeepMind in the UK, said she signed the letter because she believes Google has failed to discuss with workers any concrete red lines about usage of its AI on classified or other networks. In addition, she believes it would be impossible for the company to monitor and limit how its AI tools are actually used on "air-gapped" classified systems -- isolated from the public internet or other unsecured networks. Liguori, a trained theoretical physicist from near Milan, said the main response to worker concerns about the US military's use of Google AI has been to encourage the workforce to trust company leadership to sign good contracts. "But it's all left very broad," she said. "Agentic AI is particularly concerning because of the level of independence it can get to. It's like giving away a very powerful tool at the same time as giving up on any kind of control on its usage." Take our Markets Pulse surveyWhat's the biggest risk factor set to weigh on tech earnings in the current reporting period? Let us know. Organizers said signatories of the letter include more than 20 directors, senior directors and vice presidents, in addition to a number of senior employees at Google DeepMind, the company's AI research laboratory that seeks to keep Google at the cutting edge of the AI race while unlocking applications that could benefit humanity. A protest in 2018 by Google workers over the company's work with the US military marked a previous high point of tension between the Pentagon and Silicon Valley. The employees said they were appalled to learn that Google had signed on to work on what they termed "the business of war" under Project Maven, a Pentagon effort to use AI to detect and analyze objects on drone video feeds. In the face of protests and resignations, the company ultimately introduced new AI principles and decided against renewing its contract for Project Maven. But last year, Google removed a passage from its artificial intelligence principles that pledged to avoid using the technology in potentially harmful applications, such as weapons. The organizers of Monday's letter said in a statement that "Maven is not over." "Workers are going to continue organizing against the weaponization of Google's AI technology until the company draws clear, enforceable lines," they said. In recent years, Google has strengthened its ties with the Pentagon. In March, for instance, the company made available its Gemini AI agents for the Pentagon's three million-strong workforce at the unclassified level, after previously making available its Gemini chatbot in December. Emil Michael, the under secretary of defense for research and engineering, told Bloomberg in March that the Pentagon would start with unclassified usage of Google's Gemini agents and "then we'll get to classified and top secret." He added that talks with Google over using the company's AI agents on the classified cloud were already underway. In April, the Information, a publication focused on the technology industry, subsequently reported that negotiations are underway between Google and the Pentagon for "all lawful uses" of the company's AI tools. That description falls short of red lines cited by leadership at rival Anthropic, which worried all lawful use could feasibly include using AI on fully autonomous weapons systems and for domestic mass surveillance. The Pentagon strongly contested such characterizations and argued commercial companies shouldn't be able to dictate usage policies during wartime or preparations for war.

Google is back in the defense business with a secret new Pentagon deal

Inside Google, backlash is building again, with hundreds of employees warning about real-world harm from AI misuse. The US Department of Defense has decided to rely on Google Gemini for classified projects. A new agreement between the search giant and Pentagon reportedly gives the latter full access to Google's AI models, and Mountain View will not have any say in how the technology is used. The Information reports that a source familiar with the deal says the contract lets the DOD use Gemini for "any lawful government purpose." Google can recommend restrictions, such as not using the AI for autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance without human oversight, but the government does not have to follow these suggestions. This decision comes just two months after the Pentagon blacklisted Anthropic, officially due to supply chain risks. In reality, Anthropic would not allow its Claude AI to be used for some military purposes, such as autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. This approach was not accepted by the DOD or President Trump, who indicated Anthropic could be considered in the future, but for now, the company is excluded. Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon's chief digital and AI officer, told CNBC that "overreliance on one vendor is never a good thing." The DOD is now depending heavily on Google, OpenAI, and xAI for classified projects. Stanley says Gemini is already saving "thousands of man hours on a weekly basis" for US military personnel. Inside Google, over 700 employees recently signed an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai, urging the company to refuse classified projects. They warned, "Human lives are already being lost... from misuses of the technology we are playing a key role in building." This situation is similar to what happened in 2018 with Project Maven. At that time, strong internal opposition led Google to withdraw from a drone-imaging contract and create strict AI Principles. Now, in 2026, with OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI already making similar agreements, Google likely felt it could not risk missing out on a major contract and the future of national security technology.

Google signs classified AI deal with Pentagon for "any lawful purpose" while quietly exiting $100M drone swarm contest

Google has signed a deal allowing the Pentagon to use its Gemini AI models for classified military work under terms that permit "any lawful government purpose," the company confirmed on Tuesday, one day after more than 580 Google employees signed a letter urging CEO Sundar Pichai to refuse exactly this kind of arrangement. The agreement provides the Department of Defence with API access to Google's AI systems on classified networks, extending a relationship that already includes Gemini deployment to three million Pentagon personnel on unclassified systems. The contract includes language stating that "the AI System is not intended for, and should not be used for, domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons (including target selection) without appropriate human oversight and control." On the same day, Bloomberg separately reported that Google had quietly dropped out of a $100 million Pentagon prize challenge to create technology for voice-controlled autonomous drone swarms, withdrawing in February after an internal ethics review despite having advanced in the competition. The company officially cited a lack of "resourcing." Google is drawing a line, but it is not the line its employees asked for. The classified AI agreement is structured as an extension of Google's existing Pentagon contract, providing API access rather than custom model development or bespoke military applications. A Google Public Sector representative confirmed the arrangement. The Pentagon can connect directly to Google's software on classified networks, the air-gapped systems isolated from the public internet that handle mission planning, intelligence analysis, and weapons targeting. The "any lawful government purpose" language places Google alongside OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, both of which have signed their own classified AI agreements with the Pentagon. The government can request adjustments to Google's AI safety settings and content filters, a provision that effectively gives the Pentagon the ability to modify the guardrails that Google's own researchers built into the models. The nominal restrictions, no mass surveillance, no autonomous weapons without human oversight, echo the red lines that OpenAI negotiated in its own Pentagon deal. But the enforcement mechanism is the same one that Google's employees identified as insufficient in their letter: on air-gapped classified networks, Google cannot see what queries are being run, what outputs are being generated, or what decisions are being made with those outputs. The "should not be used for" language is advisory, not contractual prohibition, and "appropriate human oversight and control" is undefined. The employees wrote that "the only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads." Google chose to accept them with language that the employees had already argued was unenforceable. Pichai opened Cloud Next 2026 touting 750 million Gemini users and a $240 billion backlog. The same Gemini infrastructure that serves those users is now being extended to classified military networks where no one outside the Pentagon can monitor its use. The drone swarm exit is the other half of the story. Google advanced in a $100 million Pentagon prize challenge to create technology that would allow commanders to direct autonomous drone swarms using voice commands, converting spoken words like "left" into digital instructions sent to the drones. The company notified the government on February 11, 2026, that it would not participate further. Officially, Google cited a lack of resourcing. According to records reviewed by Bloomberg, the decision followed an internal ethics review. The withdrawal echoes Project Maven in 2018, when roughly 4,000 Google employees signed a petition over AI analysis of drone video feeds, and Google let the contract expire. Palantir took it over. The Maven contract was worth a few million dollars. Palantir's Maven investment has since grown to $13 billion. The juxtaposition is revealing. On the same day that Google confirmed a deal giving the Pentagon classified access to Gemini for "any lawful government purpose," the company also revealed it had walked away from a programme that would have used its AI to control autonomous drone swarms. Google is willing to put its most powerful AI models on classified networks where it cannot monitor their use, but it is not willing to build voice-controlled drone swarms. The distinction matters to Google's internal ethics apparatus: API access to general-purpose models is one step removed from weapons applications, even if the models will be used on networks that handle weapons targeting. Building technology specifically designed to command drone swarms is a direct weapons application that the ethics review could not approve. The line Google is drawing is between providing the tools and building the weapons, between selling access and designing lethality. Whether that distinction is meaningful on a classified network where the tools can be applied to any lawful purpose, including the purposes the drone swarm programme was designed to serve, is the question the employees' letter was designed to answer. Google's trajectory from Project Maven in 2018 to the classified Gemini deal in 2026 follows a pattern that the employees' letter described as systematic. In 2018, Google introduced AI principles pledging not to pursue weapons or surveillance technology. In February 2025, Google removed the passage from its principles that excluded weapons and surveillance, citing "a global competition taking place for AI leadership." In December 2022, Google won a share of the Pentagon's $9 billion Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract. In December 2025, the Pentagon launched GenAI.mil, powered by Google's Gemini chatbot. In March 2026, Google deployed Gemini AI agents to the Pentagon's three-million-strong workforce on unclassified systems. In April 2026, Google extended that access to classified networks. Each step was individually defensible. The trajectory is not. Google is simultaneously investing up to $40 billion in Anthropic, the company that was designated a supply-chain risk and blacklisted by the Trump administration for refusing to remove restrictions on autonomous weapons and mass surveillance from its Pentagon contract. Google is funding the company that refused what Google just accepted, while deploying the models that Anthropic's restrictions were designed to constrain. Europe's defence tech sector is building its own military AI capabilities independently, with purpose-specific applications like Helsing's AI submarine that define their use case in the design rather than leaving it to the user on a classified network. The European approach builds the restriction into the technology. The American approach builds the technology and adds advisory language that the customer can modify. The Pentagon's fiscal 2027 budget request includes $54.6 billion for the Defence Autonomous Warfare Group within a total defence budget of $1.5 trillion. The classified workloads that Google's employees objected to sit at the centre of that investment. The 580 signatures included more than 20 directors, senior directors, and vice presidents, along with senior DeepMind researchers. Two-thirds agreed to be named. A third requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. The letter's organisers said "Maven is not over. Workers are going to continue organizing against the weaponization of Google's AI technology until the company draws clear, enforceable lines." Google drew a line on Tuesday. It drew it between classified AI access and autonomous drone swarms, between selling general-purpose models to the Pentagon and building specific weapons applications. The employees asked for the line to be drawn at classified work itself. Google chose to draw it where the optics of weapons development become undeniable, not where the potential for misuse becomes possible. Google released Gemma 4 under an open Apache 2.0 licence three weeks ago, making its research models freely available to anyone. Its frontier Gemini models now sit behind classified military networks where no external oversight is possible. The company that champions open AI research in public is locking its most powerful technology behind air-gapped walls in private. The employees who signed the letter understood this contradiction before the deal was signed. Google signed it anyway.

Google Signs Pentagon AI Deal Despite Employee Backlash

Despite employees urging Google not to move forward, the tech giant has reportedly signed a deal with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) allowing its AI models to be used for classified work. According to The Information, citing a source familiar with the matter, the agreement gives the DoD the ability to use Google’s AI for “any lawful government purpose.†The deal comes just a day after more than 600 Google employees, including directors and vice presidents at the company, sent a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai demanding that Google refuse access to its AI models for use in classified military settings. “We want to see AI benefit humanity; not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways. This includes lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance but extends beyond,†the letter reads. The news arrives as concerns continue to grow around the use of AI for surveillance and military applications. Earlier this year, Anthropic, which at the time was the only major AI company working with the Pentagon on classified systems, hit a wall in negotiations with the DoD after officials pushed for language allowing its technology to be used for “any lawful purpose.†The biggest sticking points involved potential uses tied to domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons systems. After those talks fell apart, the Trump administration cut ties with Anthropic and designated the company as a supply chain risk. Anthropic later filed two lawsuits against the Department in response. Since then, however, President Donald Trump has said his administration has had “some very good talks†with Anthropic and suggested a future agreement restoring the company’s access to Pentagon work could still be “possible.†In the meantime, xAI and OpenAI have also signed agreements allowing the U.S. military to use their AI models in classified environments. In a blog post, OpenAI said it maintained control over its “safety stack†and prohibited the use of its AI for mass domestic surveillance or directing lethal autonomous weapons systems. The Information reports that Google’s agreement includes similar language, but also states that the company “does not confer any right to control or veto lawful Government operational decision-making.†“We are proud to be part of a broad consortium of leading AI labs and technology and cloud companies providing AI services and infrastructure in support of national security. We support government agencies across both classified and non-classified projects, applying our expertise to areas like logistics, cybersecurity, diplomatic translation, fleet maintenance, and the defense of critical infrastructure,†a Google spokesperson told Gizmodo in an emailed statement. “We remain committed to the private and public sector consensus that AI should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight.†The DoD declined to respond to a request for comment from Gizmodo. The deal marks a major shift for Google. Back in 2018, the company withdrew from the Pentagon’s Project Maven program following similar employee backlash. That project involved Google helping the military develop AI tools for analyzing drone footage. But it’s not just tech workers raising alarms about AI and surveillance. Several lawmakers in recent weeks have introduced bills aimed at limiting how AI can be used with data collected under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The law allows the government to collect communications from foreigners abroad, but it can also sweep up emails, texts, and other communications involving Americans when they contact people overseas. Critics worry AI tools could make it significantly easier for intelligence agencies to search and analyze that data at scale.

Google staff urge chief executive to block US military AI use

More than 560 Google employees have signed an open letter to chief executive Sundar Pichai urging him to refuse to let the US government use its AI technology for classified military operations. "We want to see AI benefit humanity, not being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways," read the letter, which was sent to Pichai on Monday. "This includes lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance, but extends beyond." "The only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads," it continued. "Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them." Big tech companies are under pressure to take a stance on military and intelligence use of their AI products after a clash between the Pentagon and AI start-up Anthropic. Anthropic's chief executive Dario Amodei refused to give the government unfettered access to its models and insisted on guardrails to prevent them being used for lethal autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. In response, Anthropic was designated a supply-chain risk and President Donald Trump ordered that all government departments stop using its Claude chatbot. Anthropic has challenged the designation in court. Alphabet staff are responding to reports that Google is close to agreeing terms with the Department of Defense that will allow its Gemini model to be used in classified operations without the formal safeguards that Anthropic demanded. "This isn't just about the military, AI-powered mass surveillance is a direct threat to American civil liberties," said one person involved in the campaign, who asked to remain anonymous. "This is not low-risk and theoretical; we are already in these fights. We see AI being used to support authoritarianism in China." The letter to Pichai was co-ordinated by staff at DeepMind, Google's AI lab, said two of the people involved. Two-fifths of signatories work in the AI division, with a similar share in the Cloud unit and the rest across Alphabet. More than 18 senior staff -- including principals, directors and vice-presidents -- have signed, they added. About two-thirds chose to be named, with the rest deciding to remain anonymous. DeepMind's chief scientist Jeff Dean has been the most vocal executive on the issue so far. In February, he posted on X that "Mass surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment and has a chilling effect on freedom of expression." He added that he still backed a 2018 commitment to ban lethal autonomous weapons. Google has faced previous protests against its military ties. In 2018, several staff quit and thousands signed a petition against Project Maven, which used AI to improve drone strikes. Google did not renew the contract and pledged not to work on AI for weapons or surveillance. However, last year it quietly dropped that stance in an update of its AI Principles, deleting language that promised not to pursue "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people". Co-founder Demis Hassabis explained the decision by saying that the world has changed since Google acquired DeepMind in 2014. Multiple frontier models are now widely available and US tech companies have a duty to help the country defend itself. "We take a lot of inspiration from what happened before, with the anti-Maven protest, and the fact that many senior leaders share these views," said a second person involved in the letter. "There is almost total consensus against the programme in DeepMind." OpenAI faced a backlash from its researchers after striking its own deal with the government soon after the Anthropic ban. Chief executive Sam Altman later apologised, calling his actions "opportunistic and sloppy". "Making the wrong call right now would cause irreparable damage to Google's reputation, business, and role in the world," the letter concludes. "We know from our own history that our leaders can make the right choices, for ourselves and for the world, when the stakes are high."

Google's updated Pentagon deal uses Gemini for 'any lawful government purpose' with classified data

Amid opposition from employees, Google has signed a deal with the Pentagon which will allow the US government to use the company's AI for "any lawful" purpose. Reported by The Information, Google's deal with the US Department of Defense will allow Pentagon workers to use Gemini AI models for classified work, so long as those are considered "lawful." The report explains: The agreement allows the Pentagon to use Google's AI for "any lawful government purpose," according to the person -- echoing language that has been controversial in other AI company discussions with the Pentagon. Google had already struck a deal to allow Gemini to be used on unclassified government data, but the move to classified data is controversial. As The Information notes, "more than 600" Google employees signed a letter urging CEO Sundar Pichai to reject the agreement, "arguing that refusing classified work is the only way to ensure Google's AI isn't misused." The expansion to classified data is part of an amendment to the existing deal. In a statement, Google says: We are proud to be part of a broad consortium of leading AI labs and technology and cloud companies providing AI services and infrastructure in support of national security. We remain committed to the private and public sector consensus that AI should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight. Notably, the agreement requires that Google will "assist in adjusting its AI safety settings and filters at the government's request." While Google has some guidelines around how its AI should not be used, as mentioned in the company's statement, the report brings out that Google does not have "any right to control or veto lawful government operational decision-making."

Google signs classified AI deal with the Pentagon

The Information reported the deal on Tuesday. The agreement allows the DoD to use Google's AI models without the restrictions that led Anthropic to be blacklisted in February. Google becomes the latest in a line of AI companies, alongside OpenAI and xAI, to supply classified AI capability to the US military. Google has signed a classified AI deal with the US Department of Defense allowing the Pentagon to use Google's AI models for "any lawful government purpose," The Information reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The deal was reported hours after more than 560 Google employees published an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday, urging him to refuse exactly this kind of classified military AI arrangement. Google had not publicly confirmed or commented on the agreement at the time of this article's publication. The agreement, as characterised by The Information, is structured without the ethical restrictions that Anthropic included in its Pentagon contract, the restrictions that led to Anthropic being designated a national security supply chain risk and blacklisted by the Trump administration in February 2026. Where Anthropic refused to remove contractual prohibitions on mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons without human oversight, Google's deal is described as permitting "any lawful government purpose" without such carve-outs. That framing aligns Google's deal with the unrestricted model preferred by the Trump administration, rather than the amended model that OpenAI negotiated, which included red lines on domestic surveillance while remaining within the Pentagon's contracting framework. The Pentagon has now signed classified AI deals with four of the largest AI companies in the United States: OpenAI, xAI, Google, and, until its blacklisting, Anthropic. The sequencing is notable. Anthropic was removed from the supplier pool for maintaining ethical restrictions; OpenAI renegotiated to stay in while preserving some restrictions; xAI signed without apparent restrictions; and now Google has signed in language that appears to give the broadest discretion of all to the Pentagon. The result is a classified AI vendor pool from which Anthropic is excluded, and in which the three remaining suppliers have varying but significant latitude to provide AI capability for military applications. The timing relative to Monday's employee letter is the most striking element. The 560 employees who signed the letter to Pichai on Monday morning were, by Tuesday morning, employees of a company that had signed the deal they were asking Pichai to refuse. That creates a direct and uncomfortable contrast that Pichai will be asked to address in town halls, in press conferences, and in the Musk v. Altman trial courtroom if the question of Google's AI ethics posture becomes relevant to testimony. Google has never confirmed the specific terms of its Pentagon AI engagements, and the "any lawful government purpose" framing comes from a single anonymous source reported by The Information. The employee letter and the Pentagon deal together define the fault line that every major AI company is now navigating. On one side: the US government's demand for unrestricted AI capability for classified military use. On the other: the published AI ethics principles that companies adopted, partly in response to the 2018 Project Maven controversy, that commit them to avoiding AI weapons without human oversight. Anthropic chose its principles and was blacklisted. OpenAI and Google appear to have chosen the contracts. Whether that choice is temporary, commercially reversible, or permanent will depend on how the political environment evolves, and on whether the 560 signatories of Monday's letter, and those who might join them, can change the calculus internally.

Google Employees Say They Do Not Want to Fill the Gap Left by Anthropic

With Anthropic and the US Department of Defense still in the process of mending their relationship, there remains a vacuum for other companies to pick up the slack and offer AI services for dubious purposes. Google employees are making it clear to their employer that they have no interest in filling that gap. More than 600 Googlers, including members of the company's DeepMind lab, signed a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai demanding that he refuse to allow Google’s artificial intelligence tools to be used by the Pentagon for classified work. The signeesâ€"which, according to The Verge, included principals, directors, and vice presidents within the companyâ€"noted that their work on AI has made them acutely aware of the potential dangers of using the technology without guardrails. Given that the Pentagon demanded Anthropic ignore its red lines for AI use and allow the agency to do anything it wants, including performing domestic surveillance and using fully autonomous weapons, it's a reasonable concern for Googlers to raise. "As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes," the employees wrote in the letter. "We feel that our proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses." To that end, they explicitly mentioned the very same clauses that created issues for Anthropic as their primary objections. “We want to see AI benefit humanity; not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways. This includes lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance but extends beyond,†the letter reads. The employees argued, "The only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads. Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them." Google has yet to publicly acknowledge the letter, but it seems the company has been playing footsie with the military. A report from The Information earlier this month suggested that Google was exploring a deal with the Pentagon, similar to the one OpenAI entered into when it offered up its services following the DoD's spat with Anthropic. The fact that OpenAI and Google have decided, as corporations, to do business with the Pentagon, which has demanded fealty from any AI partners so they can use the models for "all lawful uses," is pretty cowardly. Especially considering both firms filed amicus briefs in support of Anthropic in its lawsuit against the government after it was labeled a "supply chain risk." They're basically letting Anthropic take the hit of actually fighting the fight against the Pentagon while raking in lucrative contracts with the agency. They're also doing so in direct opposition to their respective employees, as OpenAI workers also petitioned leadership not to do business with the military without specific restrictions in place.

Google says it is 'proud' to serve the Pentagon - new DoD contract expansion says Gemini will only be used for 'any lawful purpose', but what happened to 'Don't Be Evil'?

Google is dropping policies and signing government contracts * Google is edging into the military/government market * New Pentagon contract allows Gemini use for 'any lawful purpose' * Google employees are not happy with the new contract Google recently expanded its contract with the US Department of Defense (DoD) to provide Gemini for use in classified operations, or for "any lawful purpose", and has also pulled out of a $100 million Pentagon challenge to build autonomous voice-controlled drone swarms. At the same time, the company is facing internal dissatisfaction with its decision to provide the Pentagon with Gemini for classified projects, but the company has responded by telling staff it is 'proud' of the Pentagon AI contract. So how have Google's ethics and policies evolved over time? And are they changing to allow the company to edge into a highly lucrative - although ethically dubious - slice of government pie? Grounding the drones Google's pivot away from its once widely recognized motto of "Don't Be Evil" may be coming true in the eyes of some Google employees, but it's not the first time the company has changed its policy. The company's AI principles once stated that the company would not deploy its AI tools where they were "likely to cause harm," and would not "design or deploy" AI tools for surveillance or weapons. Pulling out of the Pentagon competition to create technology capable of turning spoken instructions into commands for an autonomous drone swarm was reported by Google to be a matter of a lack of resources, however the actual cause is reported to be an internal ethics review, Bloomberg reports. This suggests, at least, that the internal ethics board is still functioning and not entirely toothless. On the other hand, with the company expanding its Gemini availability into classified networks, the Pentagon is free to use Gemini for "any lawful purpose". This clause is more bark than bite. Back before the turn of the century, it was illegal for communications providers to install backdoors for law enforcement purposes - but CALEA and the Patriot Act changed all that. Federal law enforcement was also previously prevented from legally seizing data stored on servers in foreign countries - but the CLOUD Act changed that too. Things are only illegal until they're legal, and vice versa, effectively giving the Pentagon a future-proof loophole should their intended use case suddenly be legalized. Therefore, the "any lawful purpose" clause doesn't offer any significant protection against using AI for autonomous weapons systems or mass domestic surveillance purposes, as Anthropic protested, and is weakened further by the inclusion of a clause within the Google-DoD contract that states the company does not have "any right to... veto lawful government operational decision-making." Something OpenAI also encountered in its Pentagon deal. This gives the Pentagon near-free rein over the direction it chooses to take with Gemini in its classified projects. Mass surveillance has been happening for decades, but AI's purpose within it all is just to make it smarter, more targeted, and more efficient. A slice of Pentagon pie The appeal of working as a government and military contractor is a simple one: there is a lot of money involved. Before the ink had fully fried on Anthropic's severance from government use, OpenAI had a shiny expanded contract to fill exactly the role Anthropic was looking to avoid. In a similar way, Microsoft and Amazon have already won numerous contracts involving cloud, AI, and cybersecurity tools, and it appears Google is trying to play catch up. Google's employees have been a challenge when it comes to the ethics of working with the government. In 2018, protests by Google employees resulted in the company dropping out of Project MAVEN over the use of Google technology in analyzing drone strike footage. These protests also resulted in Google's now-missing 'do no harm' AI principles. Google also faced similar dissent when employees opposed the company's potential involvement in providing technology to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). As is tradition, Google's employees are once again forming digital picket lines, with over 600 signing a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai asking him to reject any use of Google's AI technology for military purposes. In response, Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, wrote in an internal memo on Tuesday seen by The Information, "We have proudly worked with defense departments since Google's earliest days, and we continue to believe that it's important to support national security in a thoughtful and responsible way." Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

Google reportedly signs classified AI deal with US Pentagon

Tech company is latest Silicon Valley firm to sign agreement with US military despite widespread employee opposition Google has reportedly signed a deal with the US Pentagon to use its artificial intelligence models for classified work. The tech company joins a growing list of Silicon Valley firms inking agreements with US military. The agreement allows the Pentagon to use Google's AI for "any lawful government purpose", the report from the Information added, putting it alongside OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, which also have deals to supply AI models for classified use. Similar agreements, both at Google and other AI firms, have sparked significant disagreements with the Pentagon and major employee pushback. Classified networks are used to handle a wide range of sensitive work, including mission planning and weapons targeting. The Pentagon signed agreements worth up to $200m each with major AI labs in 2025, including Anthropic, OpenAI and Google. The government agency had been pushing top AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic to make their tools available on classified networks without the standard restrictions they apply to users. Google's agreement requires it to help in adjusting the company's AI safety settings and filters at the government's request, according to the Information report. The contract includes language stating, "the parties agree that the AI System is not intended for, and should not be used for, domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons (including target selection) without appropriate human oversight and control". However, the agreement also says it does not give Google the right to control or veto lawful government operational decision-making, the report added. The Pentagon declined to comment on the matter. Google said it supports government agencies across both classified and non-classified projects. A spokesperson for the company said that the company remains committed to the consensus that AI should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight. "We believe that providing API access to our commercial models, including on Google infrastructure, with industry-standard practices and terms, represents a responsible approach to supporting national security," a spokesperson for Google told Reuters. The Pentagon has said it has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans or to develop lethal weapons that operate without human involvement, but wants "any lawful use" of AI to be allowed. Anthropic faced fallout with the Pentagon earlier in the year after the startup refused to remove guardrails against using its AI for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance, and the department designated the Claude-maker a supply-chain risk. Google's agreement with the Pentagon comes despite employees' fears that their work could be used in "inhumane or extremely harmful ways", as a letter from Google employees reads. On Monday, more than 600 Google workers signed an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai expressing concerns about negotiations between Google and the Pentagon. "We feel that our proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses," they wrote. "Therefore, we ask you to refuse to make our AI systems available for classified workloads." Last year, Google's owner, Alphabet, lifted a ban on its use of AI for weapons and surveillance tools. The company removed language in its ethical guidelines that promised the company would not pursue "technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm". The company's AI lead, Demis Hassabis, said in a blogpost that AI had become important for protecting "national security". Some Google employees expressed their concerns about the change in language on the company's internal message board at the time. One asked: "Are we the baddies?" according to Business Insider. The use of AI and technology in war has long been a source of anxiety for Google employees, whose previous activism on this issue has seen some success. In 2018, thousands of Google employees signed a letter protesting their company's involvement in a contract with the Pentagon that used its AI tools to analyze drone surveillance footage. Google chose not to renew the Project Maven contract that year after sweeping internal backlash, and the controversial surveillance analytics company Palantir swooped in to take over.

Google's AI deal with the Pentagon has sparked employee backlash. But don't expect a repeat of Project Maven | Fortune

Google inks a major contract to help the Pentagon use AI. Hundreds of employees sign an open letter opposing the deal. The company's leadership initially digs in its heels. Several employees resign in protest. As the employee revolt builds, Google's management reverses course and opts not to renew the lucrative military relationship. That was 2018. Back then, Google was the Pentagon's partner on Project Maven, a Pentagon initiative that used AI to analyze drone surveillance footage as part of targeting workflows. And employee backlash not only forced the company to give up on Project Maven, it made Google wary of any projects to help the U.S. defense industry. Flash forward eight years, and history seems, at first glance, to be repeating itself. Google has followed OpenAI and xAI in agreeing to allow its Gemini AI models to be used inside the U.S. military's classified networks for "any lawful purpose." When news of the likely deal leaked, close to 600 employees signed an open letter opposing it. But Google's leadership has again dug in its heels. This time, however, things may out quite differently than they did with Project Maven. Current and former Google employees tell Fortune the leverage that once allowed technology workers to influence significant sway over the company's policies has eroded. Gone are the days when threats of resignations and a petition signed by thousands were enough to sway Mountain View's position. Rather than give in to employee pressure, Google seems to be doubling down on its controversial deal with the Pentagon, first reported by The Information last week, telling staff in a memo that it "proudly" works with the U.S. military and plans to continue to do so. Unlike with Project Maven, Google can also fall back on the argument that it is hardly the only company to agree to allow its AI models to be used in classified U.S. military systems for "any lawful purpose" -- and on the contention that failing to agree to such language could present significant legal and business risks to the company. OpenAI and xAI have both agreed to similar contract terms, as have Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon. Only the AI lab Anthropic has refused to agree to these terms, resulting in the Pentagon ordering the military and all defense contractors to stop using Anthropic's products within the next six months and labeling it a "supply chain risk." Anthropic has been challenging that designation in court. While Google has struck a defiant tone, internal backlash appears to be mounting, with several employees criticizing the deal publicly. "I spent the last 2 months trying to prevent this," Alex Turner, a research scientist at Google DeepMind, the unit that builds the company's Gemini models, said in a post on X. "Google affirms it can't veto usage, commits to modify safety filters at government request, and aspirational language with no legal restrictions. Shameful." Tensions between tech workers and management over military applications are not new, particularly when AI systems risk being used in warfare, but Google's own stance has been gradually shifting in ways that alarm critics. In the wake of the Project Maven controversy, for example, Google published a set of AI principles pledging not to develop AI for weapons or for surveillance that violates internationally accepted norms. But, in February 2025, the company updated those principles and removed that explicit pledge from its public website. Laura Nolan, a former Google employee who resigned over Project Maven, told Fortune it is unsurprising that employees working on a general-purpose technology, such as AI, would be uneasy about their work contributing to military targeting systems. "These are not people who are necessarily expecting to work at a defense constructor as suddenly they are," she said. However, she also said that workers today have less influence than they once did, as cost-cutting and layoffs across the tech sector have weakened employee leverage and made collective organizing more difficult. "The companies want to redirect money into AI, and they think that this may even be able to replace engineers," Nolan said. "Staff in tech have also never been particularly well organized because historically, it's been a good business to be in and staff have normally been treated very well," she said. Google also appears to have learnt lessons from the Project Maven controversy. "One of the things the company learnt from the Maven incident was they very much started to crack down on internal communication, they decommissioned a lot of the internal mailing lists, and they decommissioned the internal social network," she said. "It is harder to organize internally now." The only organized pushback from employees so far is primarily an open letter to management protesting the use of the tech in military situations, which has now amassed around a thousand signatures, according to one Google DeepMind researcher who spoke to Fortune but asked for anonymity to speak freely about their employer. Part of the issue, the researcher said, is that some within the company feel the Pentagon deal fundamentally clashes with DeepMind's values, and has left employees questioning whether the AI systems they help to build will now be deployed in ways they consider dangerous and cannot see or verify. "There was a pride in doing AI for good for a very long time," the researcher said. "Suddenly, the things I've pushed to improve might be used in very different ways with not enough oversight to harm people." The researcher also said many staff were still unaware of the deal because Google never clearly communicated that it was negotiating -- or had signed -- the contract. The closest Google has come to responding to employees' concerns is publishing an internal memo about "responsible AI" and military partnerships that did not explicitly acknowledge the agreement, they said. The researcher called the lack of transparency around the contract "pretty indicting" for Google and said it felt as if the deal had been done "in the dark." "We need to use the little leverage that exists to maybe get leadership to sort of maybe at least commit to more transparency," the researcher said. They added that as AI-driven automation reduces headcounts across the industry, it has become harder to mount the kind of internal pushback that helped kill Google's Project Maven contract in 2018. Representatives for Google did not respond to a request for comment from Fortune by the time of publication. The deal -- and Google's decision to push through with it despite strong employee opposition -- has put fresh pressure on a question that has dogged the AI industry since Anthropic's negotiations with the Pentagon publicly collapsed earlier this year: whether AI companies can or should impose meaningful limits on how governments use their technology, especially when it comes to autonomous weapons and mass surveillance, and whether employees have any real power over how the technology they create is used. The areas of concern around Google's deal are the same two that have plagued other AI companies: autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. On weapons, critics worry AI could theoretically be used to autonomously identify and select targets without direct human oversight. On surveillance, AI's ability to aggregate scattered data points into a comprehensive picture of a person's life is already technically feasible -- and, according to legal experts, currently lawful. These experts say this is the case even though several U.S. laws, including the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 2015 USA Freedom Act, and the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution -- which protects individual citizens from illegal searches and seizures -- would all seemingly prohibit mass surveillance of U.S. citizens. But legal experts say that under existing U.S. law, government authorities can buy commercially available data from brokers and feed it to AI systems, amounting in practice to mass surveillance of Americans. While the Google agreement states that the company's tech "is not intended for," and "should not be used for" domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without appropriate human oversight and control, experts have said that it imposes no enforceable obligation on the Pentagon to abide by those limits. "Given that we offer general-purpose models and not models that are specifically trained or evaluated for such purposes, there are huge risks," the Google researcher said. "With mass surveillance, it's very clear that this is really dangerous, and we just don't have the laws or the regulations." He noted that current large language models like Gemini are not yet suited to run on weapons systems directly as they are too slow and too large to be embedded in something like a drone. However, he said the issue is around the precedent these "all lawful purposes" contracts set for future, more capable systems. He argued Google's agreement risks normalising a model in which companies hand over powerful, general‑purpose AI to the Pentagon with few meaningful constraints, making it much harder to roll back or tighten those terms later. Google is not the first AI company to sign a Pentagon deal that critics say falls short on these two issues, but legal experts say its contract appears to be the most permissive yet. Following Anthropic's rupture with the Department of War over its refusal to sign a contract that included the "all lawful purposes" language that the Pentagon has been insisting on, both OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI both inked deals with the Pentagon that allowed their tech to be deployed for "all lawful use" by the government. OpenAI's decision, coming after it has stated publicly that it supported Anthropic's red lines too, sparked employee dissent within OpenAI, led to customer boycotts of ChatGPT, and caused at least one senior employee to resign from the AI lab. The backlash was so widespread that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman later publicly apologized for the "sloppy and opportunistic" deal and said the company will re-negotiate parts of the deal. In comparison to OpenAI, Google's deal hasn't had quite the same level of scrutiny, even within the company. "Some people actually aren't even aware of the letter because there is no internal communication about this at all," the Google researcher said. "With all the blowback against OpenAI, this is just a hope that people have moved on and this is the new normal." Legal experts have said that the language in Google's deal appears to be less restrictive and more permissive of government use than OpenAI's. "The OpenAI contract seemed like it did give some kind of contractual guarantee that the models weren't going to [be] used for certain kinds of mass domestic surveillance," Charlie Bullock, a senior research fellow on LawAI's U.S. Law and Policy team, told Fortune. "Even that contractual guarantee is not present in Google's deal." Bullock added that under Google's terms, if there are technical safeguards within the models that prevent the government from doing something it wants to do, Google is obliged to step in and remove those safeguards. The government can do whatever it wants, as long as it's lawful, according to Bullock's assessment of the contract, whereas OpenAI's contract appeared to lack the language about removing and adjusting safety settings from filters. However he also noted that, unlike Google, OpenAI had published a smaller portion of its contract with the Pentagon and these assurances may be undermined in other places. Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh, a research professor at the Centre for the Future of Intelligence, said the Google agreement appeared "strictly weaker" than OpenAI's on the available evidence. "From a legal perspective, it looks less strong and thus more concerning," he said, adding that it was "disappointing" that Google's deal had not attracted the same level of public discourse and internal debate as OpenAI's.

Google Signs AI Deal With Pentagon for Classified Work as Employees Object - Decrypt

Google employees are urging CEO Sundar Pichai to reject classified AI workloads. Google has signed a deal to provide the Pentagon with its artificial intelligence models for classified work, according to a report from The Information. The agreement allows the U.S. Department of Defense to use Google's AI for "any lawful governmental purpose," people familiar with the deal told The New York Times. The language mirrors the contracts the Pentagon signed last month with OpenAI and xAI to use their AI models on classified networks. "We are proud to be part of a broad consortium of leading A.I. labs and technology and cloud companies providing A.I. services and infrastructure in support of national security," a Google spokesperson told The New York Times. "We remain committed to the private and public sector consensus that A.I. should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight." Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Decrypt. While the details have not been disclosed, ahead of the deal, it comes as hundreds of Google employees signed an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai urging the company not to make its AI systems available to the Pentagon. "We want to see AI benefit humanity; not see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways," the letter said. Currently, the only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harm is to reject any classified workloads. Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them." The letter argues that AI systems "make mistakes" and can "centralize power," and argues Google has a responsibility to prevent "its most unethical and dangerous uses," including "lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance." The employees warn that making the "wrong call right now would cause irreparable damage to Google's reputation, business, and role in the world." The Pentagon has accelerated efforts to secure agreements with major AI companies since January, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the technology should be integrated across the military. The letter underscores a growing divide between the military and some AI developers over how the technology should be used in warfare. In March, the Pentagon designated Anthropic a "supply chain risk," effectively barring the San Francisco startup from working with the federal government, after CEO Dario Amodei refused to allow unrestricted use of its AI models. Anthropic has since sued the Pentagon over the designation while seeking to continue working with other parts of the government. Despite the pushback from employees, Google appears to be moving forward with its Pentagon deal as the Defense Department expands its use of artificial intelligence across classified operations. "Simply put, the United States must win the strategic competition for 21st century technological supremacy," Hegseth said in a speech at Elon Musk's Starbase in January, calling it "long overdue." "Very soon, we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," he said.

Pentagon inks deal with Google for AI services

The Pentagon and Google have reached an agreement for the Defense Department to use the tech company's powerful Gemini AI systems on classified networks, according to a U.S. official familiar with the deal. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details of the deal. The exact contents and details of the new contract remain unclear. The deal follows similar agreements with other leading AI companies, including OpenAI and xAI. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has made adopting AI a top priority for the armed forces, vowing to transform the military into "an Al-first warfighting force." A Google spokesperson did not answer specific questions about the deal, which was first reported by technology news outlet The Information. "We are proud to be part of a broad consortium of leading AI labs and technology and cloud companies providing AI services and infrastructure in support of national security," Google spokesperson Kate Dreyer said in an email to NBC News. "We remain committed to the private and public sector consensus that AI should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight." The Defense Department has embraced AI over the past decade, using automated systems for everything from analyzing drone footage in the fight against the Islamic State group to streamlining logistics and eliminating pay discrepancies for soldiers. It is currently using AI to analyze intelligence and provide targeting support in the war with Iran. Michael Horowitz, a former senior defense official and current professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said the deal "to use Google's AI models for classified purposes illustrates the growing importance of AI for U.S. national security." However, Horowitz noted that Google's AI systems were already being used on unclassified systems, so "it's not surprising that they came to an agreement on classified uses." Over the past few months, the Pentagon has sought to negotiate new contracts with America's four largest AI companies to include language allowing "any lawful use" of their AI systems. The Pentagon announced the initial, exploratory contracts with Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI in July. Those moves have sparked some controversy, most notably with Anthropic. The company, led by CEO Dario Amodei, sought stronger guarantees from the Pentagon that it would not use the company's AI models for domestic mass surveillance or direct control of lethal autonomous weapons. It's not clear whether Google sought any such guarantees. The U.S. official who spoke with NBC News said the Google deal covered lawful use by the Defense Department. While Google avoided a public spat with the Pentagon, it has faced some pushback from its own employees. On Monday, Bloomberg News reported that around 600 Google workers sent a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai urging him to refuse new AI partnerships with the Pentagon. It's not Google's first time dealing with employee unrest over its work with the military. In 2018, thousands of Google employees protested the company's role in a secretive Pentagon program called Project Maven. Operated in partnership with data analytics company Palantir, Maven remains one of the Defense Department's leading AI programs. Google decided not to renew the Project Maven contract in the wake of the employee opposition. Pichai said at the time that the company would not pursue any AI application "for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms" or for weapons whose main goal "is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people." The use of AI by the government in domestic surveillance and direct control of deadly automatic weapons have been areas of particular focus both within the AI industry and among civil society groups, though that has done little to slow the government's adoption or moves by tech giants to sign deals. Those concerns became a public controversy earlier this year. In a late February blog post outlining these two red lines, Amodei, the Anthropic CEO, wrote that "in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values. Some uses are also simply outside the bounds of what today's technology can safely and reliably do." After setting an ultimatum for Anthropic to comply with the Pentagon's wishes enabling AI use for any lawful purpose -- which could exceed Anthropic's accepted scope for use -- Hegseth declared Anthropic a "supply-chain risk to national security," a designation usually reserved for foreign adversaries. The Defense Department has said it will look to scale back its use of Anthropic's models in the coming months. President Donald Trump also announced in late February that he would ban all federal agencies from using Anthropic's products, calling Anthropic a group of "Leftwing nut jobs." Anthropic is suing the Defense Department and the relevant federal agencies to undo the fiats. The case is split between California, where a judge ordered a preliminary halt to the offloading of Anthropic systems, and Washington, D.C., where the court opted not to issue a similar injunction. Shortly after Anthropic was labeled a threat to national security, OpenAI announced that it had struck a similar deal with the Pentagon to bring its AI models to the Defense Department's classified networks. However, the announcement was met with public outcry about a perceived lack of guardrails on the Pentagon's potential use of OpenAI's systems, particularly regarding the surveillance of Americans. As a result, OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman reworked the agreement's language just days later, with the updated deal specifying that any service from OpenAI "shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals." Brian McGrail, senior counsel at the Center for AI Safety, said in March that intelligence and national security agencies often take very liberal interpretations of contract provisions about surveillance. McGrail said that because these contracts remain private, it is often difficult to judge the robustness of the prohibitions of domestic surveillance.

Google employees urge CEO to reject classified military AI use

In the letter, Google staff warn the technology could be used by the Pentagon in 'inhumane' ways, including mass surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons. More than 600 Google employees have called on the company to reject a potential deal with the Pentagon that would allow its artificial intelligence to be used in secret military operations, a statement said on Monday. "We want to see AI benefit humanity, not being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways," reads the open letter addressed to Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai. "This includes lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance, but extends beyond." The letter, signed by staff across Google DeepMind, Cloud and other divisions, comes as the tech giant negotiates with the US Department of Defense over the potential use of its Gemini AI model in classified settings. It has been signed openly by more than 20 directors, senior directors and vice presidents. "Classified workloads are by definition opaque," one organising employee, who was not named in the statement, said. "Right now, there's no way to ensure that our tools wouldn't be leveraged to cause terrible harms or erode civil liberties away from public scrutiny. We're talking about things like profiling individuals or targeting innocent civilians." The letter comes as technology companies are facing growing pressure to clarify how their AI tools can be used by the military and intelligence agencies, following a dispute between the Pentagon and AI startup Anthropic. Anthropic previously sued the US Department of Defense after being labelled a "supply-chain risk", following its request that its systems not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous warfare. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said he "cannot in good conscience accede to the Pentagon's request" for unrestricted access to the company's AI systems. "In a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values," Amodei wrote. "Some uses are also simply outside the bounds of what today's technology can safely and reliably do." In response to Amodei's decision, US President Donald Trump ordered government departments to stop using its Claude chatbot. According to the letter organisers, Google has proposed contractual language that would prevent Gemini from being used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without appropriate human control. The Pentagon, however, has pushed for broader "all lawful uses" wording, arguing it is necessary to maintain operational flexibility. Employees say such safeguards would be difficult to enforce in practice, citing existing Pentagon policies that limit external control over its AI systems. The recent statement from Google's staff draws comparisons to a previous employee protest in 2018 that led Google to withdraw from Project Maven, a Pentagon initiative using AI to analyse drone footage. "We believe that Google should not be in the business of war," read the letter. "Therefore we ask that Project Maven be cancelled, and that Google draft, publicise and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology."

Hundreds of Google workers urge CEO to refuse classified AI work with Pentagon

Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting. Hundreds of Google employees are urging CEO Sundar Pichai to refuse to make the company's artificial intelligence tools available for the Pentagon in classified settings. In an open letter to the chief executive, Google workers assigned to AI systems voiced concerns about the tech giant's ongoing negotiations with the U.S. Department of Defense, saying the technology not appropriate for "classified workloads." "We feel that our proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses," the letter read. "Therefore, we ask you to refuse to make our AI systems available for classified workloads." Neither Google nor the Pentagon immediately responded to CBS News' request for comment on the letter. They fear that if made available for military applications, Google's AI systems could be used in "inhumane or extremely harmful ways," the employees wrote. The letter cited lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance as examples of potentially harmful applications of AI. "Making the wrong call right now would cause irreparable damage to Google's reputation, business and role in the world," the letter added. Google is negotiating a possible deal with the Defense Department to deploy its AI in classified work, according to reporting from The Information. OpenAI earlier this year struck an agreement with the Pentagon, which agreed not to use Open AI technology for mass domestic surveillance or to direct autonomous weapons systems.

580+ Google employees including DeepMind researchers urge Pichai to refuse classified Pentagon AI deal

More than 580 Google employees, including over 20 directors, senior directors, and vice presidents, have signed a letter urging CEO Sundar Pichai to refuse classified military AI work for the Pentagon, according to Bloomberg. The letter, which includes senior researchers at Google DeepMind, was sent to Pichai on Monday. "We are Google employees who are deeply concerned about ongoing negotiations between Google and the US Department of Defense," it reads. "As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes." The signatories want Google to reject all classified workloads, arguing that on air-gapped classified networks, isolated from the public internet, the company would have no ability to monitor or limit how its AI tools are actually used. "Currently, the only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads," the letter states. "Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them." Google employees have fought this fight before. In 2018, roughly 4,000 workers signed an internal petition and at least 12 resigned over Project Maven, a Pentagon programme that used AI to detect and analyse objects in drone video feeds. The protest forced Google to introduce AI principles pledging not to pursue weapons or surveillance technology, and to let the Maven contract expire in March 2019. Palantir took it over. The Maven contract was worth a few million dollars. Palantir's Maven investment has since grown to $13 billion. The 2018 victory was real, but it was also the last time Google's workforce successfully constrained the company's defence ambitions. In the years since, Google has systematically rebuilt every bridge the protest burned. In December 2022, Google won a share of the Pentagon's $9 billion Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract alongside Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle. In February 2025, Google removed the passage from its AI principles that pledged to avoid using the technology in "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people" and to avoid "technologies that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms." A blog post co-authored by Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, cited "a global competition taking place for AI leadership" as justification. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both condemned the reversal. In December 2025, the Pentagon launched GenAI.mil, a platform powered by Google's Gemini chatbot, available to all defence personnel. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said "the future of American warfare is here, and it's spelled AI." In March 2026, Google deployed Gemini AI agents to the Pentagon's three-million-strong workforce at the unclassified level, with eight pre-built agents for tasks including summarising meeting notes, building budgets, and checking actions against defence strategy. The classified deal is the next step. Emil Michael, the under secretary of defence for research and engineering, told Bloomberg in March that the Pentagon would "start with unclassified because that's where most of the users are, and then we'll get to classified and top secret." He confirmed that talks with Google over using Gemini agents on classified cloud infrastructure were already underway. In April, The Information reported that negotiations are progressing toward "all lawful uses" of Google's AI tools, a phrase that falls short of the red lines Anthropic established before being designated a supply-chain risk by the Pentagon for refusing to remove restrictions on autonomous weapons and domestic mass surveillance. The Pentagon strongly contested Anthropic's characterisation and argued that commercial companies should not be able to dictate usage policies during wartime or preparations for war. OpenAI signed its own Pentagon deal hours after the Anthropic blacklisting, with three stated red lines: no mass domestic surveillance, no autonomous weapons, and no high-stakes automated decisions. But the enforcement of those red lines on classified networks is the question that Google's employees are raising. On an air-gapped system, the AI operates in a network that is, by design, disconnected from Google's infrastructure. Google cannot see what queries are being run, what outputs are being generated, or what decisions are being made with those outputs. The "trust us" assurance from Pentagon leadership is the only mechanism preventing uses that would violate any red line the company might negotiate. Sofia Liguori, an AI research engineer at Google DeepMind in the UK who signed the letter, told Bloomberg that the main response to worker concerns has been to encourage the workforce to trust company leadership to sign good contracts. "But it's all left very broad," she said. "Agentic AI is particularly concerning because of the level of independence it can get to. It's like giving away a very powerful tool at the same time as giving up on any kind of control on its usage." The Pentagon's AI budget tells the story of what the classified deal would fund. The fiscal 2026 defence budget included $13.4 billion dedicated to AI and autonomy. The fiscal 2027 request, submitted in April, asks for $54.6 billion for the Defence Autonomous Warfare Group, a 24,000% increase over the prior year, within a total defence budget of $1.5 trillion that represents a 42% year-over-year increase. The Pentagon is already testing humanoid robot soldiers with Foundation Future Industries and has formalised Palantir's Maven as a core military system with multi-year funding. The scale of military AI investment has moved from the experimental phase that characterised Project Maven in 2018 to an industrial buildout that treats AI as a foundational capability of the American military. The classified workloads that Google's employees are objecting to would sit at the centre of that buildout. The letter's organisers said "Maven is not over. Workers are going to continue organizing against the weaponization of Google's AI technology until the company draws clear, enforceable lines." The framing is significant. In 2018, the fight was about one contract for one programme. In 2026, the fight is about whether Google's entire AI stack, Gemini, DeepMind's research, the TPU chips that power inference, becomes military infrastructure on classified networks where no one outside the Pentagon can see what it does. The paradox of the administration blacklisting Anthropic while urging banks to adopt its AI illustrates the political environment: companies that resist unconstrained military use face designation as supply-chain risks, while companies that comply receive contracts worth billions. Google's employees are asking Pichai to refuse a deal that the Pentagon has made clear it will punish refusal of, at a moment when the company has spent three years rebuilding its defence credentials precisely to win that deal. The 580 signatures are notable for their seniority. Twenty directors, senior directors, and vice presidents have signed, along with senior DeepMind researchers. Two-thirds of signatories agreed to be named; a third requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. An earlier cross-company letter in February, signed by approximately 800 Google employees and 100 OpenAI employees, expressed support for Anthropic's stance against unrestricted military AI use. Over 100 DeepMind employees separately signed an internal letter demanding that no DeepMind research or models be used for weapons development or autonomous targeting. Google's chief scientist Jeff Dean wrote on X that "mass surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment and has a chilling effect on freedom of expression." The internal dissent is not marginal. It extends into the technical leadership that builds the systems the Pentagon wants to deploy. But the gap between internal dissent and corporate decision-making has widened since 2018. In 2018, 4,000 signatures and a dozen resignations were enough to kill a contract worth a few million dollars. In 2026, 580 signatures face a classified AI market worth tens of billions, a Pentagon that has shown it will retaliate against companies that refuse its terms, a company that has already removed its own red lines, and a CEO who approved the Gemini deployment to three million Pentagon personnel without, according to the letter's organisers, discussing concrete usage restrictions with the workforce that built it. Trump has signalled openness to a Pentagon deal with Anthropic if the company drops its restrictions, suggesting that the administration views compliance as the eventual destination for every AI company, regardless of where it starts. Google's employees are asking their company to be the exception. The company's trajectory over the past three years suggests it intends to be the rule.

'You don't cook a Thanksgiving turkey in the microwave': Pentagon confirms Department of Defense will use Google Gemini for 'classified projects' - US military to expand AI vendors as 'overreliance on one vendor is never a good thing'

* The Pentagon confirms it is expanding the use of Google Gemini * Gemini will be used for classified projects as part of the deal * Over 700 Google employees have signed an open letter opposing the deal Pentagon AI chief Cameron Stanley has confirmed the Department of Defense (DoD) has secured the use of Google's Gemini AI model. Gemini will be used for classified projects, CNBC reports, citing a source familiar with the matter. Google employees recently called on CEO Sundar Pichai to reject any use of Gemini for 'classified purposes'. The DoD has also recently expanded its AI capabilities to include offerings from OpenAI, with Stanley commenting, "Overreliance on one vendor is never a good thing. We're seeing that, especially in software." Pentagon to use Gemini for classified projects Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" after the company refused to allow its Claude model to be used for "mass domestic surveillance" and "fully autonomous weapons" in its contract with the Pentagon. The Pentagon then cancelled its $200 million contract with Anthropic, and the company's technology was banned from use by government contractors working on behalf of the US military. Anthropic is now engaged in a legal battle with the Pentagon over the designation. In order to fill the gap left by Anthropic, the DoD has been working to secure the use of new AI tools from OpenAI and Google, alongside numerous other technology suppliers. A Google spokesperson told CNBC, "We support government agencies across both classified and non-classified projects, applying our expertise to areas like logistics, cybersecurity, diplomatic translation, fleet maintenance, and the defense of critical infrastructure." The Pentagon is looking to leverage AI tools to maintain US hegemony on the global stage. "I have a personal quote that I usually say in these moments, you don't cook a Thanksgiving turkey in the microwave," Stanley said. "You need to have the right technology for the right use case to achieve the right outcome." Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

Hundreds of Google employees sign letter urging CEO to reject US military AI use - SiliconANGLE

Hundreds of Google employees sign letter urging CEO to reject US military AI use Around 600 employees at Google LLC have signed a letter urging Chief Executive Sundar Pichai not to make the company's artificial intelligence tools available to the Pentagon in classified settings. The open letter, signed mostly by staff working with Google's AI systems, airs concern over the "ongoing negations" between Google and the Department of Defense. "As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes," the letter said. "We feel that our proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses." This comes after recent reports stating that Google is currently in negations with the DOD relating to its Gemini AI models being used in classified settings. The reports suggest that if the deal goes through, the DOD will be able to use the AI systems for all lawful purposes. The latter expression was the reason why Anthropic PBC is currently in a legal wrangle with the U.S. government. Launching lawsuits after the company negotiations broke down with the Pentagon regarding a $200 million contract. Anthropic was opposed to the military using its Claude system "for all lawful purposes." The DOD then designated Anthropic as a "supply chain risk." OpenAI Group PBC subsequently revised a deal it had made with the Pentagon with the new language reported to deter the use of its AI for mass surveillance. One of the revise clauses read that the AI will not be used for "deliberate tracking, surveillance, or monitoring of U.S. persons or nationals, including through the procurement or use of commercially acquired personal or identifiable information." The Google staffers remain critical of contractual language, writing that the only way to ensure the technology isn't used for such purposes is to "reject any classified workloads." Last year, Google made changes to its AI Principles. Following protests by staff at the company in 2018 over the technology being used for certain military purposes, Google assured its staff it would not pursue AI developments that would be "likely to cause harm," and it would not "design or deploy" AI tools that could be used for weapons or surveillance technologies. That language has now evolved. "Making the wrong call right now would cause irreparable damage to Google's reputation, business and role in the world," the signatories warned on the most recent letter. They went on, "Human lives are already being lost and civil liberties put at risk at home and abroad from misuses of the technology we are playing a key role in building."

Google Employees Demand CEO Block Military AI Contracts in Open Letter - Decrypt

The letter demands transparency on existing Pentagon contracts and creation of an ethics board with employee representation. More than 580 Google employees have signed an open letter demanding CEO Sundar Pichai block the Pentagon from using the search giant's artificial intelligence technology for military applications, escalating Silicon Valley's internal battles over defense work. The letter calls for an immediate moratorium on deploying Google's AI for military purposes. "We want to see AI benefit humanity; not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways," the employees wrote in the document. The signatories, who include more than 18 senior staff ranging from principals and directors to vice presidents, specifically express concerns about the company's cloud computing services and machine learning tools potentially powering lethal autonomous weapons systems. They demand greater transparency around existing Pentagon contracts and want Google to establish a permanent ethics board with employee representation to review future military partnerships. Employees pointed to Google's 2018 withdrawal from Project Maven -- a Pentagon program that used AI to analyze drone footage -- as precedent for the company declining military work on ethical grounds. The Google employees' action follows a high-profile clash between the Pentagon and Anthropic, which saw the Department of Defense drop the AI startup two months ago after the company declined to remove contractual restrictions on domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons use. The Defense Secretary subsequently designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, prompting the White House to order federal agencies to phase out its tools. A federal judge temporarily blocked the ban in March. The pushback comes as the Pentagon increasingly views AI as central to future military operations. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine has described autonomous weapons as a "key and essential part of everything we do" going forward. Despite the U.S. government's dispute with Anthropic, the NSA has reportedly been granted access to Mythos Preview, an AI model that Anthropic has restricted to a small cadre of researchers and cybersecurity organizations. President Donald Trump recently suggested tensions may be easing, describing Anthropic as "shaping up."

Google signs classified AI deal with Pentagon

Google has signed a classified AI agreement with the US Department of Defense, allowing the Pentagon to utilize its AI models for "any lawful government purpose," according to a report from The Information. This deal comes amid growing internal dissent, as more than 560 Google employees published an open letter urging CEO Sundar Pichai to reject classified military AI arrangements. The new contract grants broader discretion to the Pentagon compared to a previous agreement with Anthropic, which maintained ethical restrictions that contributed to its designation as a national security risk and subsequent blacklisting in February 2026. Sources indicated that Google's deal does not include prohibitions on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons without human oversight. The Pentagon has now established classified AI partnerships with four major AI firms: OpenAI, xAI, Google, and formerly Anthropic. Anthropic's insistence on ethical compliance led to its exclusion, while OpenAI renegotiated its terms to include some restrictions. In contrast, Google's contract appears to provide the least limitation among the group, aligning with the Trump administration's preference for unregulated military AI contracts. The timing of the employee letter in relation to the signing of the agreement highlights a significant internal conflict. The signatories now work for a company that has entered into the very type of contract they opposed. Google has yet to publicly disclose detailed terms of its deal, and the phrasing "any lawful government purpose" originated from unnamed sources. This situation underscores a critical dilemma facing AI companies as they balance government demands for unrestricted military AI capabilities with their public commitments to ethical standards aimed at preventing the development of autonomous weapons without human oversight. While Anthropic prioritized adherence to its principles and faced consequences, both OpenAI and Google appear to have prioritized lucrative contracts.

Google's new Pentagon deal widens AI's role in war to 'any lawful government purpose'

AI companies are wading into ethical uncertainty as they deepen their ties to the military * Google is reportedly in talks with the U.S. Department of Defense to deploy its AI models in classified environments * This is a major shift in Google's stance on working with the military * AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are already navigating military partnerships for their AI models Google and the U.S. Department of Defense are exploring ways to deploy the company's most advanced AI models inside classified military environments, according to a report from The Information. The arrangement marks a milestone in Google's relationship with the Pentagon and thawing relations between AI developers and national security organizations. That it's happening as AI models evolve toward something closer to strategic infrastructure than regular software is probably not a coincidence. That would also explain the sheer scope of the conversations between the DoD and Google. The agreement wouldn't limit Google's AI tools to specific tasks, but make them available for "any lawful government purpose," one person involved said. Bland language can't hide the sweeping implications of the phrase when applied to AI. Those models can analyze intelligence, shape strategic planning, and influence military decisions on a global scale. It sets the stage for a deeper shift in how AI companies define their role in national security. That's raising plenty of hackles, even before confronting studies showing how AI models can become worryingly fond of nuclear threats. Google's second act with the Pentagon Google's relationship with military AI has always been uneasy. Its withdrawal from Project Maven in 2018 was driven by employee protests and produced a set of AI principles meant to guide future decisions and reassure both employees and the public. The current negotiations suggest those principles are being reinterpreted rather than abandoned. Allowing classified use for "any lawful government purpose" gives Google room to maintain that it is operating within legal and ethical boundaries while still opening the door to a wide range of applications. That hasn't stopped sharp retorts from within Google. Hundreds of employees have already signed a letter urging leadership to reject what they describe as dangerous military applications of AI. Google's leadership appears to be betting that participation offers more control than distance. By working with the Pentagon, the company can at least attempt to shape how its models are deployed. The risk is that once the door is open, it is difficult to close. The pitfalls of OpenAI and Anthropic OpenAI has already moved into similar territory, agreeing to arrangements that allow government use of its models under broad legal guidelines while maintaining internal safety frameworks. The company presents this as a pragmatic compromise and earned some support along with plenty of skepticism from consumers and the resignation of its head of robotics. Anthropic has taken a more cautious path, at least in public. It has emphasized stricter limits on surveillance and weapons-related uses. That led to very public fights with the Pentagon and calls for calm from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. There's little room for a clean ethical stance that doesn't involve walking away entirely. Refuse too much and risk being sidelined. Accept too much, and companies risk losing control over how their technology is used. The phrase "any lawful government purpose" becomes a kind of compromise language in this environment. It satisfies government requirements for flexibility while allowing companies to anchor their decisions in existing legal frameworks. What it does not do is resolve the deeper question of how the military should and will use AI. Battle of military AI Supporters of military AI often point to how improved intelligence and faster processing can reduce uncertainty and, in some cases, prevent unnecessary harm. In a competitive global environment, they also argue that failing to adopt these tools would create its own risks. The difficulty is that AI isn't just speeding up existing tools. The models can generate plausible but incorrect answers. They reflect biases embedded in their training data, but sound confident when they should be cautious. It's bad enough in consumer apps. An AI's flawed recommendation or slightly inaccurate summary won't lead to anyone dying. That's not always true when weapons of war come into play. And it's harder to track responsibility when AI is part of the decision-making process. The model provides analysis, the operator interprets it, and the institution acts on it. Each step is connected, but none of them fully owns the outcome. That ambiguity is not new, but AI amplifies it. The systems are powerful enough to influence decisions while remaining opaque enough to complicate explanations after the fact. The emerging pattern across Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic suggests that the next phase of AI development will be defined as much by contracts as by algorithms. Agreements with governments determine where the technology can go, how it can be used, and who gets access to its most advanced capabilities. The industry appears to have reached a point where opting out is no longer a simple option. Once one major company agrees to broad terms like "any lawful government purpose," others face pressure to follow or risk losing relevance in a critical market. The result is a gradual normalization of military AI partnerships, even among companies that once positioned themselves as reluctant participants. There is no single outcome that resolves all of these tensions. That little phrase signals where AI development is going, and how far it's already come. 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Move Over, Anthropic: Google Signs Deal to Supply Pentagon With Gemini AI for Classified Work

Google has signed a deal with the United States Department of Defense to provide access to its Gemini AI-powered tools for use in classified activities. The deal comes following vocal opposition from hundreds of Google employees. According to a report from The Information, the agreement will allow the Pentagon to use Gemini for "any lawful government purpose." This phrase was what led to Anthropic's blow-up with the Trump administration, as the Dario Amodei-led company said that those terms were too generic and could allow the government to use their AI models to power deadly autonomous weapons and to enable mass surveillance of Americans. In November of 2025, Google and the Pentagon signed a deal that made Gemini available for unclassified work, but the new deal allows government employees to use Google's AI models on more sensitive information, like reports on target locations, cybersecurity incidents, and plans for upcoming military operations. Many Google employees are unhappy about the deal. On Monday, The Washington Post reported that over 600 Google employees, many from the company's AI-focused DeepMind division, signed an open letter urging CEO Sundar Pichai to reconsider allowing Gemini to be used in classified workloads with the Pentagon. The letter stated that "making the wrong call right now would cause irreparable damage to Google's reputation, business, and role in the world."

Google to provide AI models to Pentagon for classified work

Google has signed a deal with the Pentagon to provide its artificial intelligence (AI) models for classified work, despite concerns raised by hundreds of employees this week over the terms. The Pentagon reached an agreement with Google that would allow the department to use the company's AI models for "any lawful governmental purpose," a Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal dynamics, told The Hill on Tuesday. The two parties signed a contract, the official said. A Google spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill that it is "proud to be part of a broad consortium of AI labs and technology and cloud companies providing AI services and infrastructure in support of national security." The Pentagon's press office declined to comment. The agreement, first reported by The Information, comes nearly two months after the Pentagon blacklisted the artificial intelligence firm Anthropic from classified government work over a disagreement on safety guardrails. Anthropic expressed concerns its AI would be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without human oversight, while the Pentagon insisted on using the technology for "any lawful purpose." It is not clear whether Google's deal includes guardrails for these issues. Google's spokesperson said the company "remains committed to the private and public sector consensus that AI should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight," but did not provide further details on the contract. It comes just one day after more than 600 employees at Google DeepMind and Cloud wrote to company CEO Sundar Pichai, warning of the same risks as Anthropic. The employees said Google does not have a way at this point to guarantee the company's tools would not risk unmonitored harm. Google has contracts across the federal government to use AI models on non-classified workloads, including through the Pentagon's genAI.mil platform. But employees said any approval of Google's AI in classified work could cause "irreparable harm" to Google's reputation. The company spokesperson touted its support for projects like "logistics, cybersecurity, diplomatic translation, fleet maintenance, and the defense of critical infrastructure." "We believe that providing API access to our commercial models, including on Google infrastructure, with industry-standard practices and terms, represents a responsible approach to supporting national security," the spokesperson added. Back in 2018, Google reached a deal with the Pentagon, an agreement that sparked a revolt among some employees that eventually led the tech giant to not renew the contract with the Defense Department. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, similarly reached a deal with the DOD to deploy its AI in classified settings, just hours after negotiations with Anthropic fell apart in February. The terms of this deal were also murky, and Altman said the company discussed additions to the agreement shortly after on these concerns, though the contractual language was not released publicly. xAI, Elon Musk's AI firm, also has a deal with the Pentagon.

Google signs classified AI deal with Pentagon: The Information

Google has inked a deal with the U.S. Department of Defense, allowing the Pentagon to utilise its AI models for classified government work. This agreement, alongside similar ones with OpenAI and xAI, permits 'any lawful government purpose.' While Google's contract includes safeguards against domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, it doesn't grant the company veto power over military decisions. Alphabet's Google joined a growing list of technology firms to sign a deal with the U.S. Department of Defense to use its artificial intelligence models for classified work, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The agreement allows the Pentagon to use Google's AI for "any lawful government purpose", the report added, putting it alongside OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, which also have deals to supply AI models for classified use. Classified networks are ⁠used to ⁠handle a wide range of sensitive work, including mission planning and weapons targeting. The Pentagon signed agreements worth up to $200 million each with major AI labs in 2025, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google. Reuters had earlier reported that the Pentagon had been pushing top AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic to make their tools available on classified networks without the standard restrictions they apply to users. Safety and oversight Google's agreement requires it to help in adjusting the company's AI safety settings and ⁠filters at the government's request, according to The Information report. The contract includes language stating, "the parties agree that the AI System is not intended for, and should not be used ⁠for, domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons (including target selection) without appropriate human oversight and control." However, the agreement also says it does not give Google the right to control or veto lawful government operational decision-making, the report added. Reuters could not verify the report. The U.S. Department of Defense, which has now been renamed the Department of War by President Donald Trump, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Google said it supports government agencies across both classified and non-classified projects. A spokesperson for the company said that the company remains committed to the consensus that AI should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight. "We believe that providing API access to our commercial models, including ⁠on Google infrastructure, with industry-standard practices and terms, represents a responsible approach to supporting national security," a spokesperson for Google told Reuters. The Pentagon has said it has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans or to develop weapons that operate without human involvement, but wants 'any lawful use' of AI to be allowed. Anthropic faced fallout with the Pentagon earlier in the year after the startup refused to remove guardrails against using its AI for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance, and the department designated the Claude-maker a supply-chain risk.

Google workers urge CEO to reject classified AI work with Pentagon

Hundreds of employees at Google are pressing the company's CEO to reject any deal with the Pentagon to use the company's artificial intelligence in classified settings, warning of the same risks as Anthropic before it was banned in military work earlier this year. The letter, signed by more than 600 employees at Google DeepMind and Cloud, comes nearly two months after Anthropic was dropped from the Department of Defense after requesting guardrails around AI used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. The letter, sent Monday to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, argues Google does not have a way at this point to guarantee the company's tools would not risk unmonitored harm. "As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes," employees wrote in the letter, a copy of which was shared with The Hill. "We feel that our proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses." The Information reported earlier this month Google is negotiating an agreement with the Pentagon to deploy its Gemini AI models in classified settings. The agreement reportedly would allow the Pentagon to use Google's AI for all lawful purposes. The parties also discussed language to prevent its AI from being used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without human control, The Information reported, but signatories on Monday's letter argued enforcing these provisions in practice is not possible. "The only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads," the letter said. Google currently has a contract with the Pentagon to use its AI models on non-classified workloads through its genAI.mil platforms. The employees warned any approval of Google's AI in classified work could cause "irreparable harm to Google's reputation, business and role in the world." "A lot of it comes down to what technical safeguards companies can put in place; but the DoD specifically prohibits any controls," one of the letter's organizers said in a press release. "If leadership is truly serious about preventing downstream harms, they must reject classified workloads entirely for now." The Hill reached out to the Pentagon and Google for comment. The issue of the Pentagon's use of AI was thrown into the spotlight earlier this year after the defense agency labelled Anthropic a supply chain risk when it would not agree for its models to be used for any lawful purpose. Anthropic has sued the Trump administration over the designation, which is usually reserved for foreign adversaries. Hundreds of Google and OpenAI employees signed a letter in support of Anthropic at the time. Within hours of the designation late February, OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, struck a deal with the DOD. The move quickly drew backlash, and CEO Sam Altman later said the company asked for additions to the contract regarding domestic surveillance, admitting the deal "looked opportunistic and sloppy."

'Human lives are already being lost': Open letter signed by hundreds of Google employees requests CEO reject 'unethical and dangerous' US military AI use

Google employees do not want its AI used for military purposes * Google employees sign open letter to CEO over concerns of military AI use * AI developers do not want their technology used for 'classified purposes' * Google is currently negotiating a contract with the Pengaton Over 600 Google employees have signed a letter calling on CEO Sundar Pichai to reject any uses of its AI technology for military purposes. The open letter highlights the serious ethical concerns the staff have, stating, "Human lives are already being lost and civil liberties put at risk at home and abroad from misuses of the technology we are playing a key role in building." "As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes," the letter said. "We feel that our proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses." Another 'supply chain risk' designation? In March, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei rejected allowing the Pentagon to use the Claude model over fears they could be used for "mass domestic surveillance" and "fully autonomous weapons," leading to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to declare the company a "supply chain risk." Shortly after, OpenAI stepped up to fill the gap left by Anthropic, with CEO Sam Altman facing both internal and external criticism over his seeming willingness to allow military use of ChatGPT. The new OpenAI contract with the Pentagon was full of holes that would have allowed the same use of ChatGPT that Anthropic feared for Claude. The contract was amended to state that OpenAI's models would not be used for "deliberate tracking, surveillance, or monitoring of U.S. persons or nationals, including through the procurement or use of commercially acquired personal or identifiable information." Shortly after, Sam Altman told his employees that the Pentagon has said OpenAI does not "get to make operational decisions" on how the military uses AI technologies. Now, Google employees are joining the growing number of AI company employees and members of the public opposed to the military use of AI tools. "Making the wrong call right now would cause irreparable damage to Google's reputation, business and role in the world," the letter states. Following protests involving Google staff in 2018, the company amended its AI Principles to state that it would not deploy its AI tools where they were "likely to cause harm," and would not "design or deploy" AI tools for surveillance or weapons. These clauses were quietly removed from its AI Principles on 4 February 2025. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

Google 'Proudly' Defends Pentagon AI Ties Amid Internal Backlash: Report - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphab

Kent Walker, Alphabet's president of global affairs, addressed the company's employees in a memo. He said Google has long supported defense agencies "proudly" and remains committed to doing so responsibly, reported the Financial Times. Walker acknowledged that AI tools are not suitable for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without proper human oversight. However, he affirmed that Google's support for military uses of AI aligns with the approaches of other major AI labs. Walker justified this stance by citing Google's past involvement in classified government initiatives, including cybersecurity, diplomatic translation, and veterans' healthcare, as per the report. Alphabet did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments. Google Staff Push Back On AI Use The move comes amid internal pushback at Google, as the Pentagon expands Gemini's use for classified work and partners with OpenAI and others. Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that more than 600 Google employees, including senior AI staff, urged CEO Sundar Pichai to bar the Pentagon from using its AI for classified work, warning it could enable harmful uses beyond their control. According to the Financial Times, the swift pace of the Google-Pentagon contract has alarmed DeepMind researchers, who warn that reduced oversight of advanced AI could enable dangerous uses they can no longer fully control. Photo Courtesy: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Google inks deal allowing Pentagon to use AI models for classified work

Alphabet's Google has joined a growing list of technology firms to sign a deal with the U.S. Department of Defense, allowing its artificial intelligence models to be used for classified work, The Information reported Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The agreement allows the Pentagon to use Google's AI for "any lawful government purpose", the report added, putting it alongside OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, which also have to supply AI models for classified use. Classified networks are used to handle a wide range of sensitive work, including mission planning and weapons targeting.

Google signs Pentagon deal to provide AI models for classified government work

Alphabet's Google joined a growing list of technology firms to sign a deal with the US Department of Defense to use its artificial intelligence models for classified work, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The agreement allows the Pentagon to use Google's AI for "any lawful government purpose", the report added, putting it alongside OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, which also have deals to supply AI models for classified use. Classified networks are used to handle a wide range of sensitive work, including mission planning and weapons targeting. The Pentagon signed agreements worth up to $200 million each with major AI labs in 2025, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google. The Pentagon is seeking to preserve all flexibility in defense and not be limited by warnings from the technology's creators against powering weapons with unreliable AI. Google's agreement requires it to help in adjusting the company's AI safety settings and filters at the government's request. Google Pentagon AI contract restricts military use The contract includes language noting "the parties agree that the AI System is not intended for, and should not be used for, domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons (including target selection) without appropriate human oversight and control", according to the report, but also adds that the "Agreement does not confer any right to control or veto lawful Government operational decision-making". Reuters could not verify the report. Alphabet and the US Department of Defense, which has now been renamed the Department of War by President Donald Trump, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Google Public Sector, the unit that handles US government business, told The Information that the new agreement is an amendment to its existing contract. Reuters had earlier reported that the Pentagon had been pushing top AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic to make their tools available on classified networks without the standard restrictions they apply to users.

Pentagon AI Chief Confirms Google Gemini's Growing Role In Classified Defense Work While Anthropic Remain

Pentagon Expands Google Gemini For Classified Military Pentagon AI chief Cameron Stanley confirmed to CNBC on Tuesday that the DOD is increasing its use of Google's Gemini AI model for sensitive and classified applications. The department is also working with OpenAI and other providers to strengthen wartime capabilities. "Overreliance on one vendor is never a good thing," Stanley told the publication. "We're seeing that, especially in software." According to reports, Gemini is being used for classified programs tied to logistics, cybersecurity, infrastructure protection and military modernization. Stanley said these tools are already delivering major efficiency gains, saving "literally thousands of man-hours on a weekly basis." Anthropic Remains Barred From DOD Contracts Amid Legal Dispute The Pentagon's deeper relationship with Google comes roughly two months after the agency dropped Anthropic as a contractor over supply chain concerns. While Anthropic continues fighting the federal government in court, conflicting judicial rulings have left the company unable to secure Defense Department work, though it can still partner with other agencies during ongoing litigation. A DOD spokesperson confirmed to the publication that the department is not currently working with Anthropic. Google Faces Internal Pushback Over Classified AI Work Previously, it was reported that Google's expanding defense role has sparked resistance within its own workforce. More than 700 employees reportedly signed a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai urging the company to reject classified military contracts, citing fears the technology could be used "in inhumane or extremely harmful ways." Alphabet did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments. Alphabet is scheduled to announce its first-quarter 2026 earnings results after the market closes on Wednesday. Price Action: Alphabet shares closed lower on Tuesday, with Class A stock falling 0.16% to $349.78 and Class C stock slipping 0.29% to $347.50, while both edged slightly higher in after-hours trading, according to Benzinga Pro. Data from Benzinga Edge indicates GOOGL is in the 95th percentile for Quality, highlighting robust performance trend across short, medium and long-term trends. Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: FotoField on Shutterstock.com Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Hundreds of Google employees urge CEO not to sign deal with Pentagon in open letter

The letter stated that the signatories feel their "proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses." 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.

Google Goes Where Anthropic Wouldn't; Grants US Access to AI for Spy Work

Google is the third company to make its way its way into the DoD while not heeding the reasons that kept Anthropic out Despite more than 600 employees urging Google to refrain from allowing the US Department of Defence (DoD) to use its latest AImodels for classified work, its CEO Sundar Pichai has done just that. Per published media reports, the agreement gives the Trump administration the ability to use Google's AI for "any lawful government purpose." The deal comes at a time when Big Tech companies are falling over each other to get on the good side of an administration that is quick to label anyone that doesn't fall in line. Ask Dario Amodei of Anthropic who took a public stand against Trump and his team after the Claude-maker did not grant the same terms to the DoD. The Pentagon wanted unrestricted use of AI in autonomous weapons as well as for excessive surveillance without adequate safeguards on its own citizens. As for Anthropic, they refused such unrestricted use of AI and wanted guardrails to prevent it from being used for the two activities mentioned above. A larger irony is that the deal was signed barely a day after more than 600 Google staff members, including some senior level functionaries like directors and vice-presidents, had requested Sundar Pichai to refrain from giving complete access to the company's AI models for use in classified military avenues. Cannot blame Pichai though. For, he has seen the response from the boorish administration after Anthropic had withstood their pressure to push for the use of Claude AI without guardrails. President Trump took to Truth Social, called the company names and claimed that the White House and his administration had no need for Anthropic solutions. They even designated the company a "supply chain risk", usually reserved for foreign enterprises. Anthropic filed lawsuits against the move, which also resulted in the company losing out $200 million in revenues to its arch rival OpenAI where Sam Altman had no qualms about picking up the crumbs. Cannot blame him too as Altman and his company have been under pressure from Anthropic around enterprise-level AI sales for some months now. Now, Google is the third AI company to turn Anthropic's loss into its gain. OpenAI had signed a deal with the Department of Defence as did xAI, owned by Elon Musk. However, Google seems to have ensured that its technology would not be used for domestic mass surveillance or in autonomous weapons, something that OpenAI had also secured. This makes us wonder what was the problem The Pentagon had with Anthropic in the first place? Given the scenarios playing out in the United States in recent times, it appears that Sundar Pichai has taken the safer route of discretion being the better part of valour. For sure, he'd have seen how President Trump did an about turn on his views around Anthropic by stating that his administration had "some very good talks" with Anthropic with a future agreement that likely includes access to the Pentagon's work. As for the Google employees, they wrote in the letter addressed to Sundar Pichai that they wanted to see "AI benefit humanity; not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways. This includes lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance but extends beyond." Reports of Google joining hands on this front arrives amidst growing concerns around use of AI for surveillance and military operations with some reports even suggesting that the Pentagon had used Anthropic's technology in their joint military operations with Israel on Iran. Earlier, both xAI and OpenAI signed deals that allow the US military to use their AI models in classified environments. Sam Altman's company had written in a blog post that OpenAI actually would maintain its control over its "safety stack" and prohibit the use of its AI for mass domestic surveillance or directing lethal autonomous weapon systems. "We are proud to be part of a broad consortium of leading AI labs and technology and cloud companies providing AI services and infrastructure in support of national security. We support government agencies across both classified and non-classified projects, applying our expertise to areas like logistics, cybersecurity, diplomatic translation, fleet maintenance, and the defense of critical infrastructure," Google has said.

Google inks Pentagon deal for classified AI work despite uproar from employees warning of 'irreparable damage'

Google cut a deal with the Pentagon allowing use of its artificial intelligence models on classified systems - setting up a showdown with hundreds of employees who have demanded that CEO Sundar Pichai walk away from the contract. The deal allows the Pentagon to use Google's AI for "any lawful government purpose," The Information reported, citing a source with knowledge of the matter. Rivals OpenAI and xAI have recently struck similar deals after the Department of War cut ties with Anthropic over its refusal to remove safety "red lines" related to autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. The partnership surfaced on the same day that more than 600 Google employees wrote a letter to Pichai stating they were "deeply concerned" about the firm's negotiations with the Pentagon. "Currently, the only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads," said the letter, which was first reported by Bloomberg. "Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them." The workers added that "making the wrong call right now would cause irreparable damage to Google's reputation, business and role in the world." The Post has reached out to Google for comment. A Google spokesperson confirmed the Pentagon partnership and described it as an update to the company's existing contract, which allowed its models to be used in non-classified military settings. "We are proud to be part of a broad consortium of leading AI labs and technology and cloud companies providing AI services and infrastructure in support of national security," the spokesperson said in a statement. "We remain committed to the private and public sector consensus that AI should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight," the spokesperson added. The language of Google's agreement states that both the company and the Pentagon "agree that the AI System is not intended for, and should not be used for, domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons (including target selection) without appropriate human oversight and control," according to the Information. At the same time, it acknowledges that Google does not retain any right to "control or veto lawful government operational decision-making." The deal could create some new headaches internally for Google, which has frequently faced pressure from activist employees within its ranks over work with military applications. In April 2024, Google employees staged sit-ins at company offices in New York and California to protest is business ties to the Israeli government during the war in Gaza. The tech giant ultimately fired dozens of workers who participated in the sit-ins. Meanwhile, Anthropic and its controversial CEO Dario Amodei are currently suing the Pentagon over its decision to label the company as a "supply chain risk" - a designation normally reserved for foreign-owned entities.