Google employees call for military limits on AI amid Iran strikes, Anthropic fallout

Tech workers at Google, OpenAI, and some of their peers are circulating an array of letters calling for clearer limits on how their employers work with the military after the U.S. carried out strikes on Iran over the weekend and the Pentagon blacklisted AI models from Anthropic.

One open letter, titled “We Will Not Be Divided,” grew from a couple hundred names on Friday to almost 900 by Monday, with nearly 100 signatories from OpenAI and close to 800 from Google. The letter took aim at the Department of Defense’s actions against Anthropic, which refused to allow its technology to be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.

“They’re trying to divide each company with fear that the other will give in,” the letter reads. “That strategy only works if none of us know where the others stand. This letter serves to create shared understanding and solidarity in the…