Google DeepMind UK Workers Vote to Unionize Over US Military Deal Concerns

Workers at Google DeepMind in the UK have voted to unionize, partly due to escalating concerns over the company's military AI contracts. In a letter to management, staff requested recognition of the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives for the lab's UK-based employees. The vote, held in April, was driven by Google’s recent classified deal with the US Pentagon, which workers argue makes the Department of Defense an irresponsible partner, citing its Iran war policies and feud with Anthropic. One anonymous worker cited fears of AI empowering authoritarianism through military and surveillance applications, while another pointed to the company’s provision of AI tools to the Israeli military during the Gaza war, stating, “Our technology helped the IDF. I want AI to benefit humanity, not to facilitate a genocide.”

Google has not responded to requests for comment. The unionization effort is the first at a frontier AI lab in the UK, following years of mounting worker and investor unease, especially after Google dropped its pledge against militarized AI last year. The Pentagon confirmed last Friday that it had reached agreements with seven leading AI companies—including Google, OpenAI, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services—to accelerate the US military’s transformation into an “AI-first fighting force.” While the contract includes non-binding language disallowing domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons without human oversight, workers remain skeptical. At least 1,000 DeepMind employees would be covered if the union is recognized, giving them collective bargaining power to influence ethical AI use.