About 300 UK-based employees at Google DeepMind are moving to unionise to challenge their employer’s decision to sell artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and cloud services to defence organisations linked to the Israeli occupation government, reported by The Financial Times on Saturday.
Staff at the Google DeepMind London offices have approached the Communication Workers Union (CWU) in recent weeks, citing concerns over the ethical implications of supplying AI models and secure cloud infrastructure to the Israeli occupation army. The proposed union drive aims to give employees a collective voice to question and potentially block future deals with defence clients connected to geopolitical conflicts.
However, internal unrest reportedly stems from media coverage suggesting that Google’s cloud arm and DeepMind’s advanced AI research, including large language and vision models, are being deployed in support of Israeli military operations.
Last year, Google DeepMind faced a similar backlash when it dismissed 28 protesters who publicly objected to a cloud contract with the Israeli occupation government. Those firings triggered wider debate over corporate accountability, transparency, and whether technology workers should have a say in how their employer’s products are used in defence and security.
As AI ethics and workers’ rights increasingly converge in the tech industry, DeepMind UK staff hope that formal union representation through the CWU will strengthen their ability to influence Google’s policies on AI licensing, cloud computing contracts, and future partnerships with defence organisations worldwide.
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