BBC: Two Google DeepMind researchers resign over the company’s AI work with the US and Israeli militaries

According to a BBC report on October 21, several Google DeepMind employees have resigned or are leaving over the company’s military AI contracts. Sofia Liguori, a London-based research engineer, resigned this week after three years, citing Google’s growing work with the US and Israeli militaries. Its push for AI in military operations “makes me feel ashamed to work at Google,” she said, speaking despite contract restrictions. AI researcher Andreas Kirsch resigned earlier in October. In his view, Google “seems to have no right to control or veto how the Pentagon uses its AI.”

A Google spokesperson told the BBC that the company follows a consistent process for reviewing public sector contracts, including compliance with its acceptable use policies and AI principles. The spokesperson added that employees have dedicated channels to raise concerns and that strict policies prevent retaliation. Per the BBC, Google’s Pentagon contract signed this year allows classified use of its models for “any lawful government purpose,” but not for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without appropriate human oversight. OpenAI, Amazon, Microsoft, SpaceX, Oracle, Nvidia and Reflection signed similar contracts.

Google’s work with Israel has drawn controversy before. In 2024, staff criticized Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract shared with Amazon; Google said it was not directed at classified or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the military will become an “AI-first” warfighting force. In June, René Mayrhofer, Google’s director of Android platform security, also resigned over the Pentagon deal, according to Business Insider.