Google employees leave DeepMind in protest against the military use of AI
Among them is the Italian Sofia Liguori, a graduate of the University of Milan-Bicocca, who resigned from her post as a research engineer at the London office this week
The American tech giant Google is facing a number of resignations from employees protesting against the military use of artificial intelligence technologies developed within the company.
This has been revealed by BBC News, which has gathered testimonies from employees who have left, or intend to leave, Google DeepMind, the group’s AI laboratory, due to contracts entered into with the armed forces of certain countries.
Among them is the Italian Sofia Liguori, a graduate of the University of Milan-Bicocca, who resigned from her role as a research engineer at the London office this week and spoke to the British public broadcaster. “Realising that my company is pushing ever harder for the use of AI systems in military operations makes me ashamed to work for Google,” she said.
After three years with the company, Liguori explained that he had decided to resign because of Google’s increasing collaboration with the US and Israeli armed forces.
“I do not agree with this direction, and this has led me to lose confidence in my company’s ability to remain true to the ethical values it professes,” he added.
