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Google executives told employees final 7 days in a companywide meeting that it is interested in a Pentagon contract for cloud computing and that doing work for the navy would not necessarily conflict with ideas made by the company for how its artificial intelligence technological know-how would be utilised.
Google is pursuing the contract three yrs following an staff revolt compelled the company to abandon function on a Pentagon application that utilised artificial intelligence and to build new tips towards utilizing A.I. for weapons or surveillance.
The pursuit likely sets up a different clash between enterprise leaders and staff members. Google’s cloud device prioritized preparation for a bid on a Pentagon agreement, The New York Periods discovered this month, pulling engineers off other projects to concentrate on making a successful proposal.
The rush to go after the agreement is a remarkable change for Google, which claimed in 2018 that it would not bid on a important cloud computing agreement with the Protection Office, recognised as the Joint Business Protection Infrastructure, or JEDI, due to the fact the get the job done would conflict with its A.I. ideas.
The JEDI cloud computing contract was estimated to be truly worth $10 billion above 10 yrs, and was awarded to Microsoft in 2019. But going through lawful issues from Amazon, the Pentagon scrapped the contract in July and declared a new system to invest in cloud computing technologies. The new version of the agreement, regarded as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Ability, will break up the operate in between various firms.
The segmented character of the contract permits Google to get the job done on areas of the Pentagon cloud without the need of violating its ban on weapons, Google executives advised personnel in the videoconference meeting on Thursday, a recording of which was attained by The Times.
The actual scope of the operate is even now unclear mainly because the authorities has not submitted a official request for proposal. Although it has not been invited to bid, Google has mentioned it is fascinated.
In a blog site put up revealed the very same day as the meeting, Thomas Kurian, who oversees the company’s cloud device, wrote: “If we are invited to be element of the J.W.C.C. contract, we will absolutely bid.”
At the assembly, Mr. Kurian said there are several locations exactly where Google’s capabilities and know-how can be applied “with no conflict to Google’s A.I. principles.”
“We have governance processes that give steering and oversight into what A.I. solutions we will give and what personalized A.I. jobs we will and we will not pursue, and we will follow people governance procedures,” he mentioned.
Mr. Kurian’s remarks, which had been claimed before by CNBC, were manufactured in reaction to a issue from an personnel about Google’s desire in the Pentagon agreement and The Times’s reporting on it.
“We understand that not just about every Googler will agree with this conclusion, but we consider Google Cloud ought to search for to serve the governing administration where it is capable of accomplishing so and in which the do the job meets Google’s A.I. rules and our company’s values,” Mr. Kurian stated.
Google’s main executive, Sundar Pichai, echoed his remarks. “I assume we are strongly dedicated to functioning with the government in a way which is consistent with our A.I. concepts,” Mr. Pichai said.
A spokesman for Google declined to comment.
