Last week, US-based Google employees protested at Google's offices in New York City, California, and Seattle to protest a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government.
A joint agreement between Google and Amazon signed in 2021, known as Project Nimbus, will provide cloud computing infrastructure, artificial intelligence to the Israeli government and military, which faces accusations in the ongoing war in Gaza. (AI), and other technology services.
Since Israel launched its military offensive last October, it has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, overwhelmingly civilians, and destroyed vast swaths of the Palestinian coastal enclave. The country justified the attack by saying it targeted Hamas fighters, who carried out a deadly attack on October 7.
See why tech workers are opposing military cooperation as AI and other technologies are misused in conflicts like Gaza and Ukraine.
Why are Googlers protesting Project Nimbus?
The sit-ins, which took place last week in New York and Sunnyvale, California, were led by No Tech for Apartheid, which has been organizing Google employees to oppose Project Nimbus since 2021. The employees oppose their employer's relationship with Israel, which has been charged with genocide in its war against Israel. World Court in Gaza.
Technology workers demand the right to know how their labor is used. Little is known about the project, and they fear the technology could be used for harm. Workers at Amazon and Facebook's parent company Meta have also clashed with their employers over links to the war.
“It's impossible not to feel excited and energized at work when you know your company is providing a product for the Israeli government that supports atrocities in Palestine,” says Tina Va, staff software engineer at Google. Chofsky said in a testimony published in No Tech. Apartheid website.
According to a 2021 report by US-based news outlet The Intercept, Google is providing advanced AI capabilities to Israel, collecting data for facial recognition and object tracking as part of Project Nimbus. there's a possibility that.
Activists and academics are wary of Israel's use of AI to target Palestinians, while legal scholars argue that using AI in warfare violates international law.
Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said: “What exactly does this project cover, other than providing interoperable and comprehensive cloud computing, which is essentially a system of data storage, data management and sharing? There is a shocking lack of transparency about what is being done.” Angeles (UCLA) told Al Jazeera.
“Israeli government data is, of course, likely to extend to Israel as well.” [army]. So this highlights the direct ties that big US technology companies have, not only to the so-called military-industrial complex, but also to directly aiding and abetting the Israeli government, and sort of This is a project to emphasize. ”
The tech giant said in a statement that the Nimbus contract “is not intended for highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads related to weapons or intelligence.” The tech giant says it is working with several governments around the world, including Israel.
The company fired at least 28 employees Tuesday for violating Google's Code of Conduct and Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation Policies during Tuesday's event. Additionally, at least nine Google employees were arrested for holding sit-ins at offices in New York and Sunnyvale.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai issued a warning in a blog post last week.
“We have a vibrant, open discussion culture that allows us to develop great products and turn great ideas into action. That's important to preserve. But ultimately We are a workplace, and our policies and expectations are clear. This is a business, and you should not disturb your coworkers, make them feel unsafe, or try to use the company as a personal platform. This is not the place to engage in behavior that creates a sense of danger. Fighting over disruptive issues or discussing politics. As a company, this is too important a moment to be distracted.” he wrote.
But technology officials weren't swayed by the warning. Google software engineer Mohammad Khatami, who was arrested for participating in the sit-in in New York, told US media outlet Democracy Now that workers were “using our technology to facilitate the first AI-based genocide. He was arrested for “voicing opposition to the use of
Is there a history of high-tech workers opposing cooperation with the military?]
This isn't the first time Amazon and Google employees have expressed displeasure with Project Nimbus. Last October, Amazon and Google employees anonymously raised their concerns in an open letter published by British news outlet The Guardian.
“We write this article as conscientious employees at Google and Amazon from diverse backgrounds. We are confident that the technology we build will serve people everywhere, including all users. As the workers who keep these companies running, we have a moral obligation to speak out against violations of these core values. This is why we are forced to call on the leaders of Amazon and Google to withdraw from the Nimbus program and sever ties with the Israeli military. So far, more than 90 people at Google and 300 at Amazon. More than 30,000 employees have signed this letter internally. We are anonymous due to fear of retribution.”
In 2018, thousands of Google employees protested a Pentagon contract known as Project Maven. In 2017, Google partnered with the Department of Defense to use its AI technology to analyze drone surveillance footage.
In February, about 30 activists gathered near the entrance to OpenAI's San Francisco office after the company quietly removed a ban on “military and war” from its terms of service the previous month. OpenAI will finally acknowledge that it is working with the US Department of Defense on open source cybersecurity software solutions.
On March 4, at the Mind the Tech conference in New York, Googler Eddie Hatfield stood in the conference room and exclaimed: ! ”
Hatfield was fired days after he interrupted Google Israel's managing director, Barak Regev. This would ultimately set the stage for the recent protests against Project Nimbus.
Last December, in response to Project Nimbus, 1,700 employees sent a petition to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stating, “Amazon will provide a cloud ecosystem to Israel's public sector.'' “This strengthens the artificial intelligence and surveillance capabilities used by the Israeli military.” To crack down on Palestinian activists and impose a brutal siege on Gaza. ”
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have accused Israel of committing the international crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people. A previous UN report accused Israel of establishing an apartheid regime.
What other technology companies are partnering with the Israeli military?
Cloud computing technology companies are not the only ones offering contracts to the Israeli military. In a report released last week by Brown University, Roberto J. Gonzalez said: Professor of Cultural Anthropology at San Jose State University; Explaining how Palantir Technologies, a publicly traded US company, is involved with Israel.
“Over the years, Palantir has entered into multiple contracts with Israeli companies. [army]And it expanded its support to Israel after the war with Hamas began in October 2023,” Gonzalez wrote in the book, published on April 17.
Palantir is a Denver-based data analytics company that provides artificial intelligence to military agencies and was co-founded by right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel. Palantir works with the US National Security Agency and has previously provided technology solutions to the Israeli military.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), an international organization working to combat injustice around the world, has compiled a list of “companies profiting from Israel's attack on Gaza in 2023-2024.” Managed.
More than 50 companies from the United States, China, Germany, and the United Kingdom are listed.
“This is a form of corporate welfare not only for the largest weapons manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, and General Dynamics, whose stock prices have soared, but also for companies that are not considered part of conventional weapons. AFSC Corporate Responsibility Action Center.
What do we know about cooperation between technology companies and militaries around the world?
The U.S. military and spy agencies signed contracts worth at least $53 billion from 2019 to 2022, according to a report released April 17 by Brown University.
In December 2022, the Department of Defense awarded $9 billion in contracts to Google, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft for top-secret cloud environments.
U.S. companies such as New York City-based Clearview AI provide facial recognition software that allows Ukraine to identify Russian soldiers and officials who took part in the military invasion. Ukraine has been granted free access to Clearview AI software starting in 2022.
The report also shows the growing role of big technology in the military-industrial complex.
“Much of the Pentagon's $886 billion budget goes to conventional weapons systems, with established defense giants like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Boeing, and BAE Systems “A new political economy is emerging, driven by the demands of big tech companies, venture capital (VC), and private equity firms,” the report said.
In many cases, the introduction of new technology can have dire human costs if it is not properly tested and vetted.
“We all know that these AI systems make mistakes… which leads to unjust deaths and unjust assassinations, as we've seen for many civilians in Gaza,” said UCLA professor. says Srinivasan.
