Staff at Google DeepMind's London laboratory have voted to unionize, citing alarm over the company's new military partnership and its history of providing technology to governments engaged in conflict.
In a letter to management Tuesday, workers at the AI research lab requested joint recognition of the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as representatives for the facility's UK-based employees. The move comes days after Google announced a deal with the US Department of Defense, alongside six other major technology firms including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services.
One DeepMind worker said the pending military contract motivated the unionization effort. The employee pointed to the US involvement in Iran and the Trump administration's public dispute with Anthropic, the AI startup notably excluded from the Pentagon agreements, as evidence the defense department cannot be trusted as a partner. "I have joined the union due to concerns about AI being used to empower authoritarianism, whether through military or surveillance applications, both foreign and domestic," the worker said on condition of anonymity.
Another staffer raised concerns about Google's past support for Israel's military. The company granted the Israeli Defense Forces expanded access to its AI tools early in the Gaza conflict and signed a $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government in 2021. "Our technology helped the IDF," the worker said. "I want AI to benefit humanity, not to facilitate a genocide."
If Google recognizes the union, at least 1,000 workers across the company's London headquarters and dozen offices spanning North America and Europe would be represented. The unionization marks the first instance of staff at a leading AI research lab seeking union recognition, according to union officials.
The Pentagon confirmed Friday that it had reached agreements with Google, SpaceX, OpenAI, Nvidia, Reflection, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services to accelerate "AI-first" military capabilities. Defense department officials described the deals as strengthening "warfighters' ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfare."
Google's contract includes language stating the AI system "is not intended for, and should not be used for, domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without appropriate human oversight." However, that language carries no legal force. The agreement also specifies that Google cannot control or block "lawful" military operational decisions.
The unionization effort coincides with broader staff resistance at Google to militarized AI. More than 600 employees signed an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai last week opposing the classified use of company AI systems. "Making the wrong call right now would cause irreparable damage to Google's reputation, business, and role in the world," they wrote.
Unionized workers are demanding Google commit not to develop AI whose primary purpose is to harm people, establish an independent ethics board, and grant employees the right to refuse morally objectionable projects. If demands go unmet, they indicated plans to stage protests and "research strikes" in which staff withhold work on flagship products like Gemini while continuing routine maintenance tasks.
History suggests internal pressure can shift company policy. Google faced massive employee backlash in 2018 over Project Maven, a Pentagon contract to analyze drone footage using AI. The company declined to renew the deal in 2019 and published AI principles pledging not to develop weaponized systems. Google later dropped that pledge.
In 2024, Google terminated 50 workers who had protested Project Nimbus, the Israeli government cloud contract. Microsoft removed Israeli military access to its Palestinian surveillance infrastructure only after Guardian reporting exposed the arrangement.
Shareholders are also pressing the issue. A coalition holding roughly $2.2 billion in Alphabet stock demanded a meeting and greater transparency about Google Cloud and AI use in "high-risk" contexts, citing concerns over immigration enforcement partnerships and military contracts in conflict zones.
Author James Rodriguez: "The contradiction is stark: Google's workers built the most advanced AI systems on Earth, and now they're organizing to stop those tools from being deployed in ways they believe cause real harm."
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