The backlash to Google's work on a US military Artificial Intelligence (AI) project which has spilled into the public in recent weeks has resulted in the company deciding not to renew contract. A number of Employees resigned in protest over Google's work with Project Maven, which uses AI to identify potential drone targets in satellite images.
They feared it was the first step towards using AI for lethal purposes. There has been no official statement from Google.
On Friday, Google changed course, as Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene announced internally that the company will not renew the contract for Project Maven. The current contract expires in 2019.
Google is not the only large tech company to work with the military, nor would stopping the contract prevent the military from getting its hands on AI technology. But Google has a culture of allowing employees to speak up on internal message boards, a rosy mission to make information “accessible and useful” and an oft-cited motto of “don’t be evil.”
Pentagon officials are planning to expand Project Maven to analyze more parts of the globe and other types of data, such as the contents of captured disk drives.
Project Maven involves using machine learning and engineering talent to distinguish people and objects in drone videos.
In April up to 4,000 Google employees signed an open letter saying that by its involvement in the project the internet giant was putting users' trust at risk, as well as ignoring its "moral and ethical responsibility".
