Google Won't Seek to Renew Pentagon Contract After Internal Backlash
June 01 2018 - 6:02PM
Dow Jones News
By Douglas MacMillan
Alphabet Inc.'s Google has decided not to seek renewal of a
Pentagon contract that had become the focus of internal debate
around the use of the tech giant's technology for military
purposes, said a person familiar with the matter.
Diane Greene, the head of Google's cloud-computing division, on
Friday told employees the company wouldn't renew a partnership with
the U.S. Defense Department that is set to expire in March 2019,
the person said. The program, code-named "Project Maven," helped
the Pentagon identify and track potential drone targets through
artificial intelligence.
Technology blog Gizmodo earlier reported Google's decision that
it wouldn't try to get the contract renewed.
Google's capitulation on a high-profile government contract
comes amid debate within the firm's campus about its involvement in
war. As news of Project Maven leaked in recent months, employees
objecting to the program protested on internal message boards. Some
employees signed a petition asking Google Chief Executive Sundar
Pichai to end the program.
A Google spokesman said recently the Pentagon uses its
technology only to recognize objects and help "save lives," not for
launching weapons.
Google's move marks the latest example of how it is struggling
to contain growing activism among fractious groups within its
workforce. Google's employee intranet is filled with tools enabling
its 80,000 employees to broadcast their opinions on topics ranging
from social issues to political beliefs. Just as some employees
have protested Google's work with the government, others expressed
concern that the opinions of low-level employees shouldn't have a
bearing on the company's business contracts.
The internal debate around Maven contributed to the company's
decision not to renew its contract, the person familiar with the
matter said.
Google is still competing with rivals including Amazon.com Inc.
and Microsoft Corp. for a multibillion-dollar contract to move the
Pentagon's data into the cloud. The Pentagon's Joint Enterprise
Defense Infrastructure cloud contract, known by the acronym JEDI,
could be worth billions over a decade for cloud computing.
To help quell employee concerns about future government
contracts, Google plans to release a set of internal ethical
guidelines next week that will set limits on how the company will
permit its technology to be used, the person familiar said.
Write to Douglas MacMillan at douglas.macmillan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 01, 2018 17:47 ET (21:47 GMT)
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