600+ Google staff ask Pichai to bar Pentagon use of Gemini

More than 600 employees across DeepMind and Google Cloud wrote to CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday urging Google to refuse Pentagon requests to use Gemini in classified systems. The workers said classified workloads would prevent them from monitoring or halting unethical uses of the company’s AI.

The letter referenced ongoing talks between Google and the U.S. Department of Defense and said the employees’ close work with AI gives them “a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses.” It included a direct request: “We ask you to refuse to make our AI systems available for classified workloads. Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them.”

Signers identified specific risks, including lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. They argued that classified contracts can hide how models are deployed, making it harder for employees and the public to assess harms. The group warned that secret work could expose Google to reputational damage and create safety and civil rights risks tied to misuse of its technology.

Pentagon officials say the military must be able to use commercial AI for “all lawful uses,” a phrase intended to preserve flexibility under U.S. law and military rules. The employees countered that legal limits alone are not enough to ensure oversight and pointed to recent presidential statements and military actions that, they said, increase the stakes for how commercial AI is used.

The letter arrives as other AI firms have clashed with the Defense Department. One company placed its models inside U.S. military systems to help sort data and identify potential targets, then lost access after disputes over contract limits on mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. That company is contesting the cutoff in court. Another large AI firm agreed to provide systems for classified workloads and has stated its contract includes protections against use for mass surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons.

Google has faced employee pushback over military contracts before. In 2018, workers protested a Defense Department project that used Google technology to analyze drone footage; Google did not renew that contract and later adopted a pledge restricting certain weapons and surveillance uses. In recent years the company relaxed some limits, and in December it signed an agreement that allows the Defense Department access to Gemini.

In the new letter, employees urged a clear policy to refuse classified workloads so potential uses cannot proceed without company oversight. They wrote that classified contracts would limit internal checks and reduce the ability of workers and the public to question or stop harmful deployments.