Google researchers are fighting the company to warn the world about AI risks
Workers inside Google’s artificial intelligence division are pushing executives to release them from non-disparagement agreements, arguing that they must be free to inform the public about the risks of the technology they are working to advance, according to sources inside the company.
In London — a major base for its AI division, Google DeepMind, which grew out of the 2014 acquisition of a British start-up — some staff members are forbidden by their employment contracts from criticizing the company for the rest of their lives, even if they leave the firm, according to a contract reviewed by The Washington Post and interviews with two current Google DeepMind workers. The workers spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution from the company.
The non-disparagement agreements signed by employees in Britain block them communicating with the public about the potential impacts of AI, the two current Google workers said. While company officials are now saying that they will not go after former employees who speak out, some staffers are pushing for updated language in existing contracts to provide them with legal certainty.
The internal conflict is the latest sign of discomfort about the potential power of AI among workers at companies racing to develop the technology. A series of top researchers at leading companies including Google, OpenAI and Anthropic have publicly resigned in recent months, citing concerns about the threat AI could pose to society. (The Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.)
“This technology is just really consequential and it’s also changing really fast,” one of the employees said. “The public wants to know and deserves to know and often this is the only way that people find out about the harms and potential harms that are happening.”
Dozens of employees recently joined a discussion about the contract language on an internal messaging platform, one of the current employees said. Some workers directly criticized the non-disparagement clause, and some posted an emoji of the text “1984,” referring to the dystopian novel, the employee said. [Continue reading…]