Around 300 London-based members of Google’s AI-focused Deepmind team are trying to combine communications trade unions with unions. Financial Times Report It cites three people involved in unionization efforts.
These deep employees are reportedly unhappy with Google’s decision to remove the pledge not to use AI for weapons or surveillance from their website. They are also concerned about the company’s work with the Israeli military, including a $1.2 billion cloud computing deal that urged protests elsewhere on Google.
One source told the FT that members of the team felt “deceived,” indicating that at least five Deep Mind staff members had quit citing these issues, the news report said. Deepmind has a staff of about 2,000 people in the UK.
A Google spokesperson told FT that the company is encouraging “constructive and open dialogue with all employees.”
A minority group of around 200 employees at Google and its parent Alphabet previously announced they were combining unions, but as a union representing a small portion of the entire Google workforce, it lacked the ability to negotiate collectively.
