Google DeepMind Workers Vote to Unionize Over Military AI Deals
London workers demand Google cut military ties, citing broken ethics pledges.
Workers at Google DeepMind in London have voted to unionize, aiming to halt the AI lab's contracts with the U.S. and Israeli militaries. In a letter to Google's UK managing director, employees asked the company to recognize the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives. The movement began in February 2025 when Alphabet scrapped a key ethics pledge not to use AI for weapons or surveillance. “A lot of people bought into the tagline ‘to build AI responsibly to benefit humanity,’” one anonymous DeepMind employee told WIRED. “The direction of travel is to further militarization.”
Nearly 600 U.S. Google employees signed a letter protesting a reported Pentagon deal allowing AI use for “any lawful government purpose.” Google defends its national security partnerships but says it opposes autonomous weapons without human oversight. If recognized, the union would demand Google pull out of its long-standing Israeli military contract, mandate transparency on AI product usage, and secure layoff protections from automation. The Communication Workers Union hopes the effort inspires similar actions at Anthropic and OpenAI’s London offices.
- Unionization drive started after Alphabet removed AI weapons and surveillance pledge from ethics guidelines in February 2025.
- Over 600 U.S.-based Google employees signed a letter opposing a Pentagon deal with a vague 'any lawful purpose' clause.
- Union demands include ending the Israeli military contract, greater transparency on AI use, and guarantees against automation-driven layoffs.
Why It Matters
Worker-led unionization could reshape AI ethics enforcement and influence how labs handle government and military contracts.