Google has decided not to proceed with a controversial program Ministryy Defense, also known as Project Maven, with which it would help the US military carry out analyzes using artificial intelligence.
Google Project Maven: Reactions to build AI weapon
The news was published today by Gizmodo, and was announced internally by Google Cloud chief Diane Greene in a meeting she had with department employees.
Greene's announcement comes just days after Google's decision to re-examine the company's code of conduct for military AI development.
Today's decision should calm the internal troubles of Google that began months ago since the company's involvement in Project Maven in March from Gizmodo. The publication said at the time that employees were "outraged" when they learned of the company's plans to use it software to help a government program aimed at killing people with unmanned vehicles.
It should be mentioned here that although Project Maven would not directly use Google software for any active participation in any form of military conflict, the company would have the tools and expertise in photo analysis, with algorithms computer vision trained with AI techniques. This, of course, could enable better identification of targets, and reduce collateral losses in future bombings.
But the full extent of Google's involvement in Project Maven has never been clear.
In early April, more than 3.000 Google employees signed an open letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, urging the company to withdraw from the program, saying "Google should not be in military operations."
Earlier this month, Gizmodo reported that about twelve employees had resigned after Google's inaction and continued involvement in Project Maven.
Today it seems that the pressure exerted on Google has paid off. According to Gizmodo, Greene told employees that their reaction was the main reason the company decided not to renew her contract. Coincidentally, on May 18th, Google updated its code of conduct to replace the company's old motto “Don't be evil,” with “Do the right thing.”
