Don't Be Evil: Google Drops Pentagon's A.I Contract, Create Censored Search Engine For China

[squeezewax]

I expect Google to spill any secrets they have to the Chinese dictatorship.

 

[Arkain2K]

Google Drops Out of Pentagon's $10 Billion Cloud Competition
By Naomi Nix October 8, 2018

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has decided not to compete for the Pentagon’s cloud-computing contract valued at as much as $10 billion, saying the project may conflict with its corporate values.

The project, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud, or JEDI, involves transitioning massive amounts of Defense Department data to a commercially operated cloud system. Companies are due to submit bids for the contract, which could last as long as 10 years, on Oct. 12th.

Google’s announcement on Monday came just months after the company decided not to renew its contract with a Pentagon artificial intelligence program, after extensive protests from employees of the internet giant about working with the military. The company then released a set of principles designed to evaluate what kind of artificial intelligence projects it would pursue.

“We are not bidding on the JEDI contract because first, we couldn’t be assured that it would align with our AI Principles," a Google spokesman said in a statement. "And second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications.”

The spokesman added that Google is “working to support the U.S. government with our cloud in many ways.”

The Tech Workers Coalition, which advocates for giving employees a say in technology company decisions, said in a statement that Google’s decision to withdraw from the cloud competition stemmed from “sustained” pressure from tech workers who “have significant power, and are increasingly willing to use it.”

Google is behind other technology companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in obtaining government cloud-security authorizations that depend on the sensitivity of data a service is hosting.

The JEDI contract attracted widespread interest from technology companies struggling to catch up with Amazon in the burgeoning federal government market for cloud services. Final requirements for the project were released in July after a months-long lobbying campaign in Washington by tech companies including Microsoft, International Business Machines Corp. and Oracle Corp. that opposed the Pentagon’s plans to choose just one winner for the project instead of splitting the contract among a number of providers.

“Had the JEDI contract been open to multiple vendors, we would have submitted a compelling solution for portions of it,” the Google spokesman said. “Google Cloud believes that a multi-cloud approach is in the best interest of government agencies, because it allows them to choose the right cloud for the right workload.”

In a report to Congress, the Defense Department said making multiple awards under current acquisition law would be a slow process that “could prevent DoD from rapidly delivering new capabilities and improved effectiveness to the warfighter that enterprise-level cloud computing can enable.”

The department also said it expects “to maintain contracts with numerous cloud providers to access specialized capabilities not available under the JEDI Cloud contract.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ut-of-pentagon-s-10-billion-cloud-competition

 

[Ruprecht]

Their own employees protested against the involvement in the Pentagon program.
In response to that they agreed not to participate in these programs and drafted their "ethical guidelines".

 

[MPD-Psycho]

It’s understandable they don’t want to build skynet.

 

[lfd0311]

Funny how none of these people were this conflicted over the 8 years of the previous administration

 

[oldshadow]

It's a private company and if they don't want the contract that's fine.

The government in turn should remove them from all bidding for any government work.

 

[TheGreatA]

Obviously China made the best bid.

 

[Ruprecht]

Funny how none of these people were this conflicted over the 8 years of the previous administration

They started the campaign to stop killer robots in 2013, and Noel Sharkey started his activism against the idea in 2007.

 

[Madmick]

Funny how none of these people were this conflicted over the 8 years of the previous administration

Yeah, they were protesting Obama's extensive drone program.

I just can't stand when people don't understand proportion. We saw that Tony Blair foundation report demonstrating that radical Islamists killed 84k people in 2017 alone including over a quarter of those civilians. Meanwhile, in his entire 8 years, Obama's drone programs killed 4,492 people including as many as 802 civilians (that's using the international tracking bodies with the highest estimates).

The internal anti-American propaganda campaign is astounding. It's just mind-boggling how effective they are at getting people to believe that Americans are the bad guys.

 

[Starman]

Thread Index:

• Google's Plans to Create Censor-Friendly Products for China Are Even Bigger Than We Thought (August 2, 2018)
  
• Google Will Not Renew Pentagon Contract That Upset Employees (June 1, 2018)
  
• A dozen Google employees quit over military drone project (5/15/2018)
  
• Inside Google, a Debate Rages: Should It Sell Artificial Intelligence to the U.S Military? (May 14, 2018)
  
• Thousands of Google employees asked CEO Sundar Pichai to stop providing AI tech for the US military's drones
  
• The business of War: Google employees protest work for the Pentagon (April 4, 2018)

‘The Business of War’: Google Employees Protest Work for the Pentagon
By SCOTT SHANE and DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI | APRIL 4, 2018

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/technology/google-letter-ceo-pentagon-project.html

Leftists everywhere cheer.

 

[Ruprecht]

Yeah, they were protesting Obama's extensive drone program.

I just can't stand when people don't understand proportion. We saw that Tony Blair foundation report demonstrating that radical Islamists killed 84k people in 2017 alone including over a quarter of those civilians. Meanwhile, in his entire 8 years, Obama's drone programs killed 4,492 people including as many as 802 civilians (that's using the international tracking bodies with the highest estimates).

The internal anti-American propaganda campaign is astounding. It's just mind-boggling how effective they are at getting people to believe that Americans are the bad guys.

It's not an anti-American campaign. It started in the UK.

 

[lfd0311]

Yeah, they were protesting Obama's extensive drone program.

I just can't stand when people don't understand proportion. We saw that Tony Blair foundation report demonstrating that radical Islamists killed 84k people in 2017 alone including over a quarter of those civilians. Meanwhile, in his entire 8 years, Obama's drone programs killed 4,492 people including as many as 802 civilians (that's using the international tracking bodies with the highest estimates).

The internal anti-American propaganda campaign is astounding. It's just mind-boggling how effective they are at getting people to believe that Americans are the bad guys.

Very few people protested. An entire section of the tech industry didn't stand up and refuse to participate. That's my point. Do you think if Hillary had won these same people would be refusing to work on the drone program? Of course not. This is narcissistic, self aggrandizing behavior based on a political agenda from normal people. This is just one big, massive self patting on the back for "resisting".

 

[Hollywood Jack]

Because they have family members in the areas this military stuff will be used and are conflicted.

Too many people living in the u.s. today that are convicted about putting America first.

Probably the most dangerous part of immigration.

*Conflicted

 

[Ruprecht]

Do you think if Hillary had won these same people would be refusing to work on the drone program?

Yes. After Noel Sharkey started campaigning with ICRAC to stop autonomous weapons development, a lot of industry figures joined his campaign. In terms of Google that included Demis Hassabis, cofounder of Deepmind, which Google purchased in 2014 to spearhead their AI research.
Jeff Dean, the current head of Google AI, has also voiced his objections to developing autonomous weapons. The contention with the US Department of Defense began in 2012 when they explicitly outlined their policy to pursue autonomous weapons.
The Deepmind executives agitated against Project Maven from the start.

AI researchers and executives at London-based Google subsidiary DeepMind, meanwhile, have distanced themselves from the program, citing a 2014 acquisition agreement between the companies that precludes Google from using DeepMind technology in surveillance and military systems.

While the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots has recruited a lot of American tech gurus/entrepreneurs, including Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk, it started in the UK.
If you look at the signatories a lot of them aren't American.
It's got nothing to do with Trump. A lot of the leaders in the field of AI feel that autonomous weapons are a bad idea.

 

[7437]

It's a private company and if they don't want the contract that's fine.

The government in turn should remove them from all bidding for any government work.

should all companies be forced to bid on every government project? or just the ones you dont like.

 

[oldshadow]

should all companies be forced to bid on every government project? or just the ones you dont like.

The government should be able to take into account companies that refuse to work with them on other projects. The same as any other business.

 

[7437]

The government should be able to take into account companies that refuse to work with them on other projects. The same as any other business.

you think the government should be intentionally wasteful and get an inferior product in future projects for the sole purpose of being petty? Gotta say i disagree. Government has enough problems without intentionally sabotaging it.

Google refuses to pave roads too. So does walmart. And Raytheon. should they all be disqualified from governemtn projects?

 

[oldshadow]

you think the government should be intentionally wasteful and get an inferior product in future projects for the sole purpose of being petty? Gotta say i disagree. Government has enough problems without intentionally sabotaging it.

Google refuses to pave roads too. So does walmart. And Raytheon. should they all be disqualified from governemtn projects?

There are plenty of companies out there that can do the job .

Google was doing the job and now refuses to. It's not the same as asking them to do a job they don't have any idea how or were doing.

 

[7437]

There are plenty of companies out there that can do the job .

Google was doing the job and now refuses to. It's not the same as asking them to do a job they don't have any idea how or were doing.

They weren't doing it. They were talking about doing it. It is exactly the same. They dont have the ability to do the job up to standard because of employee problems, so the bid is withdrawn. That is bad to you. Why?

 

[ShinkanPo]

Bookmarded