Employees at Google DeepMind’s UK office have voted to form a union over concerns about the company’s defense work with Israel and the Department of Defense.
If successful, DeepMind, the centerpiece of Google’s artificial intelligence efforts, would become the first frontier AI lab to form a union.
In a letter sent to management on Tuesday and seen by Business Insider, employees at the DeepMind division called for recognition of the communications union and union unity.
The vote to unionize came days after the Pentagon confirmed it had awarded contracts to Google and a handful of other AI labs for sensitive military work. Employees opposed to the deal worry that Google’s technology could be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of Americans.
Some Google employees have previously told Business Insider that they fear the company won’t be able to enforce red lines on sensitive work.
The unionized employees also want an end to a $1.2 billion contract Google signed in 2021 to provide cloud services to the Israeli government, according to a press release from union organizers. Some staff members rejected the contract, known as Project Nimbus. In 2024, Google fired 50 employees following sit-in protests over its deal with Nimbus.
If the unionization effort is successful, at least 1,000 staff associated with Google DeepMind’s London office will be represented, a representative for the effort said. DeepMind’s headquarters are in King’s Cross, London, but many of its employees are based in the United States and other parts of Europe. The division has approximately 6,000 employees worldwide.
Google did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment. The letter to unionize was first reported by the Guardian newspaper.
The union’s efforts are part of a broader campaign by employees, who are considering in-person protests and a “research strike” (abandoning work to develop the company’s core AI products), according to a press release.
Last week, more than 600 Google employees called on CEO Sundar Pichai not to sign an agreement with the Pentagon regarding classified activities. In a letter to employees shortly thereafter, Kent Walker, Alphabet’s president of international affairs, defended the company’s work with the U.S. Department of Defense, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by Business Insider.
Walker said the company has “proudly” worked with the defense sector since Google’s earliest days, and said the company believes “as part of a broader consortium of AI labs, tech companies, and cloud providers, it’s important to support national security in a thoughtful and responsible way.”
Walker said the company supports the consensus among AI institutes that “today’s AI tools are not appropriate for use in domestic mass surveillance or in conjunction with autonomous weapons without adequate human oversight.”
The unionization letter gives Google DeepMind’s management 10 business days to voluntarily recognize CWU and Unite or take other steps, such as mediation, or organizers will begin legal proceedings to obtain recognition.