Google AI employees in the UK have voted to seek union representation, citing concerns that the company’s technology is being used by Israel and the US military.
A vote by DeepMind’s Communications Workers’ Union members found 98% supported the move to recognize the union, which would ensure representation for at least 1,000 staff in the London office.
One DeepMind employee said: The National It said workers’ concerns about the use of AI technology they were working on were not being heard.
“The company’s message is about using AI to benefit humanity, and there are people working on things that are really valuable, like predicting weather events,” said the software developer, who asked not to be named.
“But these models can also be used by Israel, for example, to analyze drone footage in the Gaza Strip, and there are also agreements in place with Israel.” [US President Donald] President Trump’s Department of Defense. Therefore, many people who signed up because they seriously believed that these technologies would be used for the betterment of humanity feel quite betrayed.
“Many attempts have been made to engage with leaders on this matter, but the people have been widely ignored.
“We had several petitions, each signed by hundreds of employees, that were ignored and even brought up at City Hall. We only got answers that were contrary to what the corporate communications team had come up with.”
The employee said workers will now have the opportunity to formally raise concerns through the union during negotiations, and if these are ignored, direct action by workers will be considered.
“We’re going to talk about going on a research strike or stopping work on improving Gemini,” a DeepMind employee said, referring to Google’s chatbot technology.
John Chadfield, the communications workers’ union’s national officer for tech workers, has written to Debbie Weinstein, head of Google UK, giving her 10 days to recognize the CWU and Unite trade unions under UK law.
“This is a pivotal moment for tech workers at Google’s Frontier AI Institute to connect with the most oppressed people in communities around the world in meaningful ways, based on our core values of solidarity and unionism,” he said.
“By exercising their right to collectivize, they are in a strong position to demand that their employers end the ethical drain on military-industrial contracts, which echoes the sentiment of many workers in the UK and elsewhere.”
In recent years, Google employees have expressed concerns about the Israeli military’s use of its technology.
In 2024, Google fired 28 employees who took part in protests against Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion joint agreement with Amazon to provide artificial intelligence and cloud services to the Israeli government and military.
