- A Google executive has resigned over the company’s contracts with the DoD
- The executive shared a letter internally with colleagues at Google
- “Google management has lost its moral compass,” the letter said
A director of Android platform security has resigned from his position over Google’s contracts with the Department of Defense.
In a letter shared with colleagues, and seen by Business InsiderRené Mayrhofer said the decision had become “inevitable” following Google’s decision to allow the Pentagon to use the company’s AI models for classified work.
Google is just one of the many AI companies that have approved the use of AI models with the Department of Defense, which retains the right to use the AI models for ‘any lawful purpose’.
Termination “inevitable”
Mayrhofer’s letter, titled “Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass,” cited the company’s quiet abandonment of carbon-neutral goals in pursuit of AI development.
“Worse,” the letter continued, “current Google management is now signing deals with the US War Department – where ‘any lawful purpose’ of the current US government has already been repeatedly shown to be in violation of international law.”
As rumors began to circulate about Google’s potential deal with the Pentagon, hundreds of Google employees signed an open letter urging CEO Sundar Pichai to reject the “unethical and dangerous” decision to allow the Department of Defense to use Google’s AI models for classified purposes.
To avoid the same fate that Anthropic suffered at the hands of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Google confirmed the contracts and allowed the Pentagon to use its AI models for “any lawful purpose.”
In 2018, Google published a set of AI principles for responsible development and use of the technology. Included in them was a clause that the company would not use AI to develop weapons or surveillance tools.
The principles were removed from Google’s guidelines in February 2025. Google’s previous motto, “Don’t be evil”, was steadily phased out between 2015 and 2018.
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