By Bruce Gil
Publication Date: 2026-05-05 16:05:00
Staff at Google’s AI research lab DeepMind have voted to unionize due to growing concerns surrounding the company’s ties to the U.S. military and the use of its AI products in warfare.
Workers at DeepMind’s London headquarters sent a letter to management on Tuesday asking the company to recognize the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as their joint representatives.
Citing unnamed DeepMind employees, The Guardian reports that the vote took place last month amid reports that Google was preparing to sign a deal with the U.S. Department of Defense allowing the Pentagon to use the company’s AI models in classified settings. Google ultimately signed the agreement last week despite employee backlash.
The day before news of the Google-Pentagon AI deal broke, more than 600 Google employees—including directors and vice presidents—signed a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai urging the company not to allow its AI systems to be used in classified military…
