Employees working on Google DeepMind artificial intelligence projects in the United Kingdom have voted to unionise, citing concerns over a newly announced partnership between Google and the United States military.
In a letter set to be delivered to management on Tuesday, staff at the AI research lab called for formal recognition of the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives of DeepMind’s UK workforce, according to Guardian.
The unionisation vote took place in April. One employee said unease about reports that Google was nearing an agreement with the US Department of Defense helped drive the effort, pointing to the United States’ “capricious Iran war” and the Trump administration’s dispute with Anthropic as signs that the department is “not a responsible partner.”
The agreement was formally announced on Friday.
“I have joined the union due to concerns about AI being used to empower authoritarianism, whether through military or surveillance applications, both foreign and domestic,” added the worker, who requested anonymity because of fear of retaliation. “By unionizing, we are taking the traditional route for workers to organize and have a say.”
Another worker, who also requested anonymity, said many staff had been grappling with what they perceived as their complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza.
According to a report by The Washington Post last year, the company provided the Israeli military with expanded access to its AI tools early in the conflict.
In 2021, Google also signed a $1.2bn cloud computing contract with the Israeli government alongside Amazon.
“Our technology helped the IDF,” said the second UK worker, referring to Israel’s military. “I want AI to benefit humanity, not to facilitate a genocide.”
Concerns among employees and investors at Google have been building for years but intensified after the company dropped its earlier commitment not to develop militarised AI.
That policy shift was cited by workers at Google DeepMind as a key factor behind their push to unionise in the UK, according to two employees involved in the effort.
While small groups of Google staff in the United States have previously formed unions, the DeepMind employees say they are the first workers in a “frontier” AI lab to seek formal union recognition.
