Google faces staff resignations over AI military contracts
Google is seeing a wave of resignations from its DeepMind research team after staff voiced concerns about the company’s AI contracts with the U.S. and Israeli militaries. London‑based research engineer Sofia Liguori quit this week, saying she feels ashamed that Google is pushing AI systems into military operations. AI researcher Andreas Kirsch also left earlier this month, arguing that Google’s…
Key points
- Sofia Liguori and Andreas Kirsch resigned from Google DeepMind over military AI contracts
- Google’s Pentagon deal allows its models for any lawful government purpose, similar contracts exist with OpenAI, Amazon, Microsoft and others
- Project Nimbus, a $1.2bn joint contract with Amazon, supplies AI and cloud services to Israel’s government and military
The backlash follows contracts signed earlier this year that let Google’s models be used for “any lawful government purpose,” including classified Pentagon projects. Similar deals were reported for OpenAI, Amazon, Microsoft, SpaceX, Oracle, Nvidia and the start‑up Reflection. A 2024 joint contract with Amazon, called Project Nimbus, was valued at $1.2bn (£960m) and provides AI and cloud services to Israel’s government and military. Employees say they fear retaliation for speaking out, and critics warn that current AI models lack the robustness and human oversight needed for high‑stress battlefield decisions.
The situation highlights growing tension between AI firms’ commercial defence work and internal ethical standards, as staff weigh personal values against corporate policy.
Google experiences resignation backlash over AI military contracts
bbc.com · 21 October 2026
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