techcrunch Google removes pledge to not use AI for weapons from website

[schuck6566]

Google removes pledge to not use AI for weapons from website | TechCrunch

TECHCRUNCH.COM

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Google removed a pledge to not build AI for weapons or surveillance from its website this week. The change was first spotted by...

 

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Google removed a pledge to not build AI for weapons or surveillance from its website this week. The change was first spotted by Bloomberg. The company appears to have updated its public AI principles page, erasing a section titled “applications we will not pursue,” which was still included as recently as last week.

Asked for comment, the company pointed TechCrunch to a new blog post on “responsible AI.” It notes, in part, “we believe that companies, governments, and organizations sharing these values should work together to create AI that protects people, promotes global growth, and supports national security.”

Google’s newly updated AI principles note the company will work to “mitigate unintended or harmful outcomes and avoid unfair bias,” as well as align the company with “widely accepted principles of international law and human rights.”

In recent years, Google’s contracts to provide the U.S. and Israeli militaries with cloud services have sparked internal protests from employees. The company has maintained that its AI is not used to harm humans; however, the Pentagon’s AI chief recently told TechCrunch that some company’s AI models are speeding up the U.S. military’s kill chain.

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Say hello to skynet from those of us who don't make it.

 

[pio]

Fixed the title and put the link and a quote from the article in.   Thx for posting it anyway!

This is interesting news to say the least.  Let's see how this plays out.  Interesting times with these big tech companies like Google, Meta, and X these days.

[schuck6566]

  On 05/02/2025 at 02:11, pio said:

Fixed the title and put the link and a quote from the article in.   Thx for posting it anyway!

This is interesting news to say the least.  Let's see how this plays out.  Interesting times with these big tech companies like Google, Meta, and X these days.

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Thankyou!

[Mr. Fox]

I think any "pledge" to do the right thing made by Google (or any other technology company for that matter) should be taken with a grain of salt. The notion that any of them are interested in doing the right thing for anyone other than themselves is downright laughable. They're going to do whatever they think will make them the most money regardless of whether or not those things are legal, just, respectable or beneficial to society as a whole.

[Sir Beregond]

  On 07/02/2025 at 16:46, Mr. Fox said:

I think any "pledge" to do the right thing made by Google (or any other technology company for that matter) should be taken with a grain of salt. The notion that any of them are interested in doing the right thing for anyone other than themselves is downright laughable. They're going to do whatever they think will make them the most money regardless of whether or not those things are legal, just, respectable or beneficial to society as a whole.

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This. I guess I can give Google props for at least removing stuff from their "pledges" that the public can see. Just makes it easier for people to see you can't take any of these pledges seriously. Once something "pledged" gets in the way of making money, it will be dropped faster than you can say AI.

[speed_demon]

Google Removes 'Don't Be Evil' Clause From Its Code of Conduct

GIZMODO.COM

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Google’s unofficial motto has long been the simple phrase “don’t be evil.” But that’s over, according to the code of conduct that Google...

[Kaz]

Don't be evil was always a joke.  The mind doesn't think in negatives, if you tell a child don't turn off the lights, they will keep flipping that light switch on and off.  If you tell a child please leave the lights on we want to be able to see, they will leave the light switch alone.  From personal experience, good people don't run around telling everyone they are a good person.  The few people I've met who do that, are dirtbags.

 

Google became too big to escape the interest of intelligence services.  It was only a matter of time until it all came out.  It did, that was Snowden.  Now google is dropping the act because they want more money.  The question, are we the badguys?  Should be asked more often by more people and not just in the tech world.  General Eisenhower warned everyone about the industrial military complex.