5 May 2026.
The workers want a commitment not to make AI weapons, to create an ethics oversight body, and the right to refuse projects on moral grounds.
The AI workers insist their technology shouldn’t be used to make “genocide cheaper, faster and more efficient”, according to one DeepMind employee.
“We don’t want our AI models complicit in violations of international law, but they already are aiding Israel’s genocide of Palestinians,” said the worker.
“Even if our work is only used for administrative purposes, as leadership has repeatedly told us, it is still helping make genocide cheaper, faster, and more efficient.
“That must end immediately, as must harm to Iranians and human lives anywhere.”
They hope that union recognition could stop their AI research being used by the two militaries, and have written to Debbie Weinstein, the head of Google UK, giving her 10 days to make a decision on their request.
“By exercising their rights to collectivise, they are in a strong position to demand their employer stop circling the ethical drain of military-industrial contracts,” said John Chadfield, national officer for tech workers at the Communication Workers’ Union.
If their attempt is successful, the DeepMind team will become the AI lab of their kind in the world to unionise, and would cover around 1,000 workers in the London DeepMind office.
They’re asking for the CWU and Unite the Union to be recognised as their official representatives.
Sky News has contacted Google for comment.
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