Project Maven has led to some dissatisfied employees quitting from Google. According to a new report from Gizmodo, the Maven AI project has driven these employees away due to its combat applications. The original report holds that nearly a dozen employees left the tech giant after their concerns over the project went unaddressed. This type of brain drain is certainly bad for Google. Highly skilled programmers leaving the company only helps Google’s competitors: they are likely to hire such talented employees. Not to mention, continued development of military technology could damage Google’s brand.
What is Project Maven?
Project Maven is an AI piloting program that Google has partnered with the Pentagon to complete. The program’s purpose is to create an AI that can pilot military grade drones. In April, nearly 4,000 Google employees signed a petition beseeching their employer to not have anything to do with drone strikes. More than a month later, some employees felt as though the company hadn’t done enough to distance itself from violence.
Militarily speaking, it is understandable why the Department of Defense would be interested in AI to pilot drones. However, such AI would also be quite dangerous, and it makes sense that many Google employees would have less desire to work on such a project than on something more peaceful.
Google’s Role in Warfare
Google isn’t exactly known for their advancements in military technology: they’re a consumer technology company. This is certainly an unusual direction for them. However, given their new push for dominance in the field of AI, however, Google seems to have attracted military attention—and military money.
What will this mean going forward? Will we see more employees leaving if the company pursues Project Maven further? Or will the company back away from this course of action? The answers to these questions may shape humanity’s relationship with AI.
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