Google Signs Classified AI Deal with Pentagon — 600+ Employees Protest

Bloomberg·high signal

Google signed a deal on April 28 allowing the Pentagon to use Gemini AI models for classified military work under 'any lawful government purpose' terms, placing it alongside OpenAI and xAI as defense AI suppliers. More than 600 Google employees signed a letter urging CEO Pichai to reject the deal, citing lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance risks. Simultaneously, Google withdrew from a $100M Pentagon drone swarm prize challenge following an internal ethics review.