About 200 employees of Google DeepMind have signed a letter calling on the tech giant to refuse contracts with military organizations. Time reports this with reference to five sources. The publication also has a copy of the letter.

The document is dated May 16, 2024. It was signed by 5% of the employees of Google DeepMind, a division that develops artificial intelligence.

The letter begins by saying that employees are “concerned by recent reports of Google’s contracts with military organizations.”

It does not mention specific military organizations. However, it does refer to an April report that Google has a contract to provide cloud computing and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli military as part of a broader contract with Israel called Project Nimbus.

“Any involvement with military and weapon manufacturing impacts our position as leaders in ethical and responsible AI, and goes against our mission statement and stated AI Principles,” the letter says.

According to these principles, the company will not use AI that can cause “overall harm,” contribute to the creation of weapons or other technologies whose “principal purpose or implementation” is to cause harm, or create technologies “whose purpose contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights.”

At the same time, a Google spokesperson said that the company adheres to the “AI Principles, which outline our commitment to developing technology responsibly.”

The company also noted that the work under the Nimbus contract is not aimed at highly sensitive, classified or military workloads related to weapons or intelligence services.