- A Google director resigned over the company’s contracts with the Department of Defense
- The director shared a letter internally with Google colleagues
- “Google management has lost its moral compass,” the letter states
An Android platform security director resigned from his position over Google’s contracts with the Department of Defense.
In a letter shared with colleagues and seen by Insider business informationRené Mayrhofer said the decision had become “inevitable” following Google’s decision to allow the Pentagon to use the company’s artificial intelligence models for classified work.
Google is just one of many AI companies that have cleared the use of AI models with the Department of Defense, which reserves the right to use AI models for “any lawful purpose.”
“Unavoidable” resignation
Mayrhofer’s letter, titled “Google management has lost its moral compass,” cited the company’s quiet abandonment of carbon neutrality goals in pursuit of AI development.
“Worse still,” the letter continued, “Google’s current management is signing agreements with the US War Department, where ‘any legitimate purpose’ by the current US government has been repeatedly shown to violate international law.”
When rumors began to circulate about Google’s possible deal with the Pentagon, hundreds of Google employees signed an open letter asking CEO Sundar Pichai to reject the “unethical and dangerous” decision to allow the Department of Defense to use Google’s artificial intelligence 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 the responsible development and use of the technology. These included a clause according to which 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 phased out between 2015 and 2018.
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