More than 600 Google employees signed a letter on April 27, 2026, to CEO Sundar Pichai demanding that Google prevent the Pentagon from using its AI models for classified military purposes, according to The Washington Post.

The letter’s signatories include numerous employees from Google’s DeepMind AI lab, with more than 20 principals, directors, and vice presidents among them. According to the Post, the letter states: “The only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads. Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them.”

The protest follows a report by The Information that Google and the Pentagon are in discussions about a deal to deploy Google’s Gemini AI models in classified settings. Microsoft already has established agreements to provide AI services in classified environments, and OpenAI announced a renegotiated deal with the Pentagon in February.

The letter’s backdrop also involves Anthropic’s ongoing legal battle with the Pentagon. Anthropic was designated a “supply chain risk” after refusing to loosen guardrails on how the U.S. military can use its AI models — a stance that has drawn support across the tech industry, including from many Google employees.

Notably, this is not the first time Google employees have pushed back against military AI contracts. In 2018, Google planned to participate in the Pentagon’s Maven project (drone imagery analysis), but abandoned the contract after protests from thousands of employees and subsequently adopted AI ethics principles. The current protest involves more participants at higher organizational levels than the 2018 event, suggesting that concerns about AI militarization within the tech industry are intensifying.

Analysts note that as governments worldwide accelerate the integration of AI technology into defense systems, major tech companies will face increasingly difficult choices between commercial interests and ethical positions. Google’s internal resistance could have far-reaching implications for its government business strategy.

Source: The Verge, The Washington Post