Approximately 600 Google employees from the DeepMind and Cloud divisions sent a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday, urging him to block the use of the company's artificial intelligence technology for classified US military operations. The action follows reports from Bloomberg and The Information that Google and the Pentagon are negotiating to deploy Google's Gemini AI model in classified settings. In the letter, the employees expressed deep concern that classified workloads would prevent adequate oversight of how their technology is utilized. They warned that such arrangements could lead to unethical and dangerous applications, including lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. The workers argued that the only way to guarantee Google does not become associated with these harms is to reject any classified workloads, as these projects could occur without employee knowledge or the ability to stop them. As people working on AI, the letter states, the employees recognize that these systems can centralize power and make mistakes. They emphasized that their proximity to the technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most dangerous uses. The letter further cautioned that making the wrong decision now could cause irreparable damage to Google's reputation, business, and global role, especially while critical infrastructure and civil liberties face threats from technological misuse. This is not the first time Google staff have pushed back against military contracts. In 2018, internal pressure led the company to decide against renewing Project Maven, a Department of Defense contract to integrate AI into drone strikes, though the deal was later picked up by Palantir. At that time, Google established a set of AI principles pledging not to use AI for weapons or surveillance. However, last year the company updated these principles to remove specific wording regarding weapons and surveillance. Despite this, Google has secured new contracts with the Pentagon for AI and cloud products, and in March, the company announced it would provide AI agents in non-classified settings. Additionally, employees were informed in a January meeting to expect more such deals. The employees stated they want to see AI benefit humanity rather than be used in inhumane ways. They called on Pichai to act according to the values on which the company was built and to refuse classified workloads. As of now, Google has not publicly responded to the letter or commented on the negotiations. Jane Chung, founder of the communications firm Justice Speaks representing the workers, confirmed that the company has yet to address the letter.