Hundreds of Google Employees Demand CEO Block Pentagon AI Access

(MENAFN) Hundreds of Google staff members have broken ranks with company leadership, publicly imploring CEO Sundar Pichai to block the use of the tech giant's artificial intelligence tools in classified military environments — a move that puts employees on a collision course with an increasingly defense-focused corporate strategy.

In an open letter, employees engaged in AI development voiced alarm over Google's reported negotiations with the US Department of Defense, contending that the company's AI is fundamentally ill-suited for deployment in classified settings.

"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."

"We want to see AI benefit humanity," they said, and not be used in "inhumane or extremely harmful ways."

As people working in AI, we know that these systems "do make mistakes," they said.

The letter pointed specifically to lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance as among the gravest potential misuses of the technology, and warned that a misstep at this critical juncture could inflict lasting damage on Google's reputation, commercial interests, and global credibility.

Google's discussions with the Defense Department over classified AI applications were first reported by The Information. The development draws comparisons to OpenAI, which earlier this year reached an agreement with the Pentagon that included explicit prohibitions on using its technology for large-scale domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons control.

MENAFN28042026000045017169ID1111041434