The unionisation bid will provide representation for over 1,000 workers in London, according to CWU [Getty]
UK-based Google AI workers are unionising in a bid to end the use of their technology by the US and Israeli militaries.
Scores of employees at Google DeepMind sent a letter to management on Tuesday requesting that the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Unite the Union (UNITE) be recognised as their official representatives.
According to CWU, the unionisation bid would secure representation for at least 1,000 staff at Google DeepMind in London.
“This is a really important moment where tech workers at Google’s frontier AI lab are connecting with some of the most oppressed people in communities around the world in meaningful ways, based on foundational values of solidarity and trade unionism,” said John Chadfield, CWU national officer for tech workers.
“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.”
The move comes as workers at Google DeepMind are considering “research strikes” and in-person protests to have their voices heard.
Among the workers’ demands is a reinstatement of a scrapped pledge not to make AI weapons or surveillance tools, the establishment of an independent ethics oversight body, and the individual right to refuse to contribute to projects on moral grounds.
“We don’t want our AI models complicit in violations of international law, but they already are aiding Israel’s genocide of Palestinians,” said one DeepMind employee. “Even if our work is only used for administrative purposes, as leadership has repeatedly told us, it is still helping make genocide cheaper, faster, and more efficient. That must end immediately, as must harm to Iranians and human lives anywhere.”
In their letter, the workers said Google has ten working days to voluntarily accept the unionisation bid, or to take other steps toward mediation before a formal legal process is launched.
Google has worked on contracts that have made cloud computing and AI tools available to Israel, including Project Nimbus. The firm withdrew from the US government’s Project Maven in 2019 after outrage among staff. AI systems born from Project Maven have been employed in the US-Israeli war on Iran.
More recently, Google agreed to allow the US Department of Defense to use its AI models for classified work – a move opposed by more than 600 employees.
