Fei-Fei Li—Fei-Fei Li warned against publicizing AI role in Google's Project Maven military contract
During her role as Chief Scientist of AI/ML at Google Cloud (2017-2018), leaked internal emails revealed that Fei-Fei Li expressed enthusiasm for Google Cloud's role in Project Maven, a Pentagon drone image analysis contract, but cautioned colleagues to avoid mentioning the AI component, writing 'This is red meat to the media to find all ways to damage Google.' She later told the NYT: 'I believe in human-centered AI to benefit people in positive and benevolent ways. It is deeply against my principles to work on any project that I think is to weaponize AI.' She departed Google Cloud in October 2018 following the controversy.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Transparency | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Military & Defense Contracts | +toward | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.483 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
Leaked emails revealed Fei-Fei Li cautioned against publicizing Google Cloud's AI role in Project Maven
Internal emails leaked to reporters showed that Fei-Fei Li, as Chief Scientist of AI/ML at Google Cloud, praised the Project Maven Pentagon contract but warned colleagues to avoid mentioning its AI component, writing 'This is red meat to the media to find all ways to damage Google.' She departed Google Cloud in October 2018 following the controversy. She told the NYT: 'I believe in human-centered AI to benefit people in positive and benevolent ways. It is deeply against my principles to work on any project that I think is to weaponize AI.'