Google DeepMind Workers in London Vote to Unionize Over Pentagon Deal

Workers at Google DeepMind's London office have filed a formal request for union recognition, citing deep opposition to the deal Google struck with the Pentagon. The contract allows the U.S. Department of Defense to use Gemini models on classified military networks, and part of the research team reportedly learned about it only from press reports.

A Deal No One Knew About

The contract signed on April 28 allows the Pentagon to use Gemini models for "any lawful government purpose" within classified military networks. It includes a clause stating the models "are not intended and should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons," but the company retains no right to control or block the government's operational decisions.

To many DeepMind researchers, that clause sounds like window dressing. News of the signed deal reached employees not through internal channels but through the media, even though leadership had repeatedly assured the team it would not bow to Pentagon pressure.

The agreement contains significant weasel words that allow for a PR spin - Andreas Kirsch, Google DeepMind scientist

Hundreds of Signatures Before the Vote

Opposition had been building since February. On February 26, more than 100 DeepMind researchers, including Google and DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean, urged leadership to reject military contracts involving mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. When it became clear negotiations were continuing, more than 600 Google employees, including over 20 directors and vice presidents, signed a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai on April 27.

Despite this pressure, Google finalized the deal the very next day. Both Pichai and Dean remained publicly silent on the matter, on that same day both posted on X about the anniversary of Google Translate without mentioning the Pentagon contract.

The Shadow of Project Maven

DeepMind employees openly invoke the 2018 precedent, when Google withdrew from the military Project Maven program after mass protests and a wave of employee resignations. Today, however, tech workers' bargaining power is far weaker than eight years ago, eroded by waves of layoffs and cost-cutting across the sector.

I hope this helps DeepMind and Google leadership find their backbone when it comes to keeping what they've preached - Google DeepMind employee

Another point of reference is Anthropic, which in February refused to sign a similar deal with the Pentagon, a decision that led the Department of Defense to designate it a supply-chain risk and triggered a months-long legal dispute. Google, like OpenAI, xAI, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon before it, chose a different path.

Workers' Demands and Google's Response

CWU and Unite union representatives are demanding an end to the Pentagon's and the Israeli military's use of Google AI, restoration of the company's earlier commitment not to allow the development of weapons or surveillance systems that violate international norms, the creation of independent ethical oversight, and the right of individual employees to opt out of projects they consider morally problematic.

By exercising their right to organize, they are in a strong position to demand that their employer stop dancing around the ethical cesspool of military-industrial contracts - John Chadfield, CWU national officer

A Google DeepMind spokesperson tempered some of the reporting, noting that a formal unionization vote among the wider workforce has not yet taken place, only among union members, and that the company values "constructive dialogue with employees." An actual referendum covering all London office staff will only happen if Google does not choose to voluntarily recognize the union.

For Polish readers, the case shows just how deeply global AI labs are now entangled with the defense sector, and how internal tensions between researchers and leadership are growing as the technology becomes commercialized and militarized. It is also a sign that even at companies seen as elite workplaces for AI specialists, pressure is mounting for traditional worker-protection tools like trade unions.