Hundreds of Google and OpenAI staff sign open letter opposing military AI use
TL;DR: Nearly a thousand employees from Google and OpenAI have signed a joint open letter calling for clear limits on military uses of AI. The letter comes after the Pentagon designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk, and amid reports that OpenAI and Google are negotiating to take up the arrangement Anthropic rejected.
The letter, titled “We Will Not Be Divided,” uses unusually direct language for an industry that typically defaults to careful corporate messaging. The signatories argue that government officials are attempting to play AI companies against each other to weaken ethical boundaries.
Cross-company solidarity
“They’re trying to divide each company with fear that the other will give in. That strategy only works if none of us know where the others stand,” the letter states. The fact that employees from rival companies signed the same document is itself unusual in an industry built on fierce competition.
The signatories argue AI is now powerful enough that decisions about its military use cannot be treated as routine business agreements. They specifically oppose domestic mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons systems.
Echoes of Project Maven
The letter is reminiscent of the 2018 backlash at Google over Project Maven, which used machine learning to analyse drone footage for the Pentagon. Thousands of Google employees protested that contract, which the company eventually let expire. Google subsequently published AI Principles meant to define boundaries on sensitive applications.
Those principles now face a fresh test as governments push harder to integrate advanced language models into defence and intelligence operations.
Looking forward
Whether the letter changes corporate decisions remains an open question. OpenAI and Google are both reportedly in talks to fill the gap left by Anthropic’s Pentagon refusal. But the letter creates a clear, public record that a significant portion of the workforce objects — making it harder for either company to quietly expand military AI work without internal friction.