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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: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 05 2018, @02:59PM (3 children)
(a tumbleweed passes by)
(3,100 sign a letter of protest)
Either fire them all or cut off Google from all federal contracts for the high risk of disloyalty. There are times to take an ethical stand and this is one of them.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 05 2018, @03:23PM (1 child)
How many of those 3100 people are actually involved in Project Maven? Because for those not involved, their opinion on the project is largely irrelevant.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 06 2018, @12:10PM
Just like unless people work in the white house, their vote in the presidential election is largely irrelevant.
(Score: 3, Touché) by frojack on Thursday April 05 2018, @07:47PM
Seriously, a link too an internet archive with thousands of posts by random people on various subjects is what you base your entire post on?
And that gets modded insightful?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.