Google DeepMind employees in the UK are not happy with the company’s new artificial intelligence (AI) deal with the US government. The UK-based employees of the company have reportedly launched a bid to form the world’s first union at a frontier AI lab. According to a report by Fortune, the UK’s Communication Workers Union, which is representing the DeepMind workers, said that the company’s employees in the country are seeking to force an end to Google’s AI tools being used by the US Department of War and the Israeli military.The move comes after Google agreed to allow the Pentagon to deploy its AI models for “any lawful purpose” in classified military networks, sparking protests within Google and employee criticism. However, Google is not the only AI company to have such a deal with the Pentagon. Companies including OpenAI, xAI, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon have also signed similar agreements. However, Anthropic has declined such deals, leading the US Department of War to label it a “supply chain risk,” a designation the company is contesting in court.
Why Google DeepMind’s UK employees are pushing back against military use of the company’s AI tools
The deal has sparked backlash within Google DeepMind, with more than 600 employees signing an open letter opposing the agreement earlier. Some workers have also publicly criticised the company’s growing involvement in military contracts.Workers are now seeking formal representation through the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union. According to the CWU, employees below the vice president level backed the unionisation effort by 98%, with the proposed unit covering at least 1,000 staff linked to DeepMind’s London office, the Fortune report claimed.The union push includes demands to reinstate a previous company commitment, introduced after the 2018 Project Maven backlash, not to develop AI for weapons or surveillance that violates internationally accepted norms. Employees are also asking for an independent ethics oversight body and the right to refuse work on projects based on moral concerns.The campaign may extend to in-person protests and “research strikes,” where employees could abstain from working on core products such as the Gemini AI assistant, the report added. Workers have given Google management 10 working days to voluntarily recognise the unions or enter mediated negotiations before initiating formal legal proceedings.The union bid reflects a broader effort to regain influence over company decisions. During the Project Maven controversy in 2018, employee protests led Google to withdraw from the contract. However, workers say that leverage has weakened in recent years due to layoffs, cost-cutting, and increased AI investment across the tech sector.One DeepMind UK employee told Fortune, “Hopefully this will help employees help the DeepMind and Google leadership grow a spine when it comes to standing up to what they have preached and publicly endorsed as our values and principles for the last two decades.”Another researcher added, “One of the things we can look at through unionisation is restoring that leverage. If we can manage to get a seat at the table, whether that’s in the ethics review, the AI review, deployments, or even on the Alphabet board, that’s where we could restore leverage.”“In general, I don’t think that leverage has ever been very direct; it’s always been pointing out the problem, and making the cost to continue these controversial projects high enough that they are not worth it,” they added.John Chadfield, national officer for tech workers at the Communication Workers Union, said, “By exercising their rights to collectivise, they are in a strong position to demand their employer stop circling the ethical drain of military-industrial contracts, echoing the sentiment of many working people in the UK and elsewhere.”
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