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We had submissions from two Soylentils concerning recent employee reaction to Google's participation in the Pentagon's "Project Maven" program:
Google Workers Urge C.E.O. to Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project
Submitted via IRC for fyngyrz
Thousands of Google employees, including dozens of senior engineers, have signed a letter protesting the company's involvement in a Pentagon program that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video imagery and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes.
The letter [pdf], which is circulating inside Google and has garnered more than 3,100 signatures, reflects a culture clash between Silicon Valley and the federal government that is likely to intensify as cutting-edge artificial intelligence is increasingly employed for military purposes.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/technology/google-letter-ceo-pentagon-project.html
Google Employees on Pentagon AI Algorithms: "Google Should Not be in the Business of War"
Thousands of Google employees have signed a letter protesting the development of "Project Maven", which would use machine learning algorithms to analyze footage from U.S. military drones:
Last month, it was announced that Google was offering its resources to the US Department of Defense for Project Maven, a research initiative to develop computer vision algorithms that can analyze drone footage. In response, more than 3,100 Google employees have signed a letter urging Google CEO Sundar Pichai to reevaluate the company's involvement, as "Google should not be in the business of war," as reported by The New York Times.
Work on Project Maven began last April, and while details on what Google is actually providing to the DOD are not clear, it is understood that it's a Pentagon research initiative for improved analysis of drone footage. In a press statement, a Google spokesperson confirmed that the company was giving the DOD access to its open-source TensorFlow software, used in machine learning applications that are capable of understanding the contents of photos.
Previously: Google vs Maven
(Score: 5, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday April 05 2018, @02:30PM (4 children)
those that walked into google, took the job and stayed there - I blame all of you 100% for the state of google, today. very evil and very powerful - TOO powerful.
did they fool themselves about where their efforts are really going?
not only does it sicken me that google is an ADVERTISING company (remember bewitched, that old tv show? darren was an ad-man; today he'd be a google employee or manager, if that series was re-done for the modern age). we laughed at the concept of an 'ad man' back then, but the kids, today, all flock to the FB, twitters and googles of the world. boggles the mind how they can ignore the evil sides of those places and how their 'good efforts' WILL be abused by those in power.
they either are too young to understand what they are really helping, via proxy; or they are just lying to themselves. a certain portion fully know what they are doing and simply don't care. those will be the future leaders of the next wave of psycho companies.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday April 05 2018, @02:48PM (2 children)
Advertising is a blight on societal productivity worse than lawyers.
I'd much rather have a society without advertising, with all the effort that goes into advertising converted to paid vacation / UBI.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday April 05 2018, @03:57PM (1 child)
The same way that lawyers can be a good thing when they defend the innocent, advertising has one use: actually informing people that a product/service exists.
But the moment the mind tricks start, they should all be lined up against the Trump wall, on the shooting side.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday April 05 2018, @07:03PM
Lawyers and advertisers both have their place, but they both seem to have grown like cancer far beyond anything beneficial to the host.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 05 2018, @03:21PM
+1 "shoulders upon which we can stand" giant