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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Thousands of Google employees have signed a letter protesting the development [theverge.com] of "Project Maven" [defense.gov], 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 [nyt.com] 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 [nytimes.com].

Work on Project Maven began last April [defense.gov], 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 [theverge.com], used in machine learning applications that are capable of understanding the contents of photos.

Previously: Google vs Maven [soylentnews.org]

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