Unlike with Project Maven, Google can also fall back on the argument that it is hardly the only company to agree to allow its AI models to be used in classified U.S. military systems for “any lawful purpose”—and on the contention that failing to agree to such language could present significant legal and business risks to the company. OpenAI and xAI have both agreed to similar contract terms, as have Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon. Only the AI lab Anthropic has refused to agree to these terms, resulting in the Pentagon ordering the military and all defense contractors to stop using Anthropic’s products within the next six months and labeling it a “supply chain risk.” Anthropic has been challenging that designation in court.
While Google has struck a defiant tone, internal backlash appears to be mounting, with several employees criticizing the deal publicly.
“I spent the last 2 months trying to prevent this,” Alex Turner, a research scientist at Google DeepMind, the unit that builds the company’s Gemini models, said in a post on X. “Google affirms it can’t veto usage, commits to modify safety filters at government request, and aspirational language with no legal restrictions. Shameful.”
