Google—Google exited Project Maven military AI drone contract after 4,000+ employee protests and resignations
In 2018, over 4,000 Google employees signed an open letter and about a dozen resigned in protest against Project Maven, a Pentagon contract using AI to analyze drone surveillance footage. Employees demanded Google cancel the project and adopt a policy never to build warfare technology. On June 1, 2018, Google announced it would not renew the contract when it expired in March 2019. The company later published AI ethical principles excluding weapons development.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Safety | +toward | secondary | +0.50 |
| Military & Defense Contracts | -against | primary | +1.00 |
| Tech Worker Organizing | +toward | secondary | +0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.590 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.59)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
Google announced it would not renew Project Maven Pentagon contract after employee protests
After 4,000+ employees signed an open letter and about a dozen resigned, Google announced on June 1, 2018 it would let the Project Maven contract expire in March 2019. Employees had demanded the company never build warfare technology.