Google DeepMind workers in UK vote to unionize amid deal with US military

Workers developing Google ’s artificial intelligence products in the UK have voted to unionize, in part out of concerns about a deal between the company and the US military that was announced last week. In a letter slated to go to management on Tuesday and shared exclusively with the Guardian, workers at Google DeepMind , the company’s AI research laboratory, requested recognition of the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives of the lab’s UK-based staff. DeepMind’s UK workers voted to unionize in April. One of the workers said they were particularly driven by reports that Google was close to reaching a deal with the defense department and pointed to the US’s “capricious Iran war” and the Trump administration’s feud with Anthropic as indications that the department is “not a responsible partner”. The deal was ultimately announced on Friday. “I have joined the union due to concerns about AI being used to empower authoritarianism, whether through military or surveillance applications, both foreign and domestic,” added the worker, who requested anonymity because of fear of retaliation. “By unionizing, we are taking the traditional route for workers to organize and have a say.” Another worker, who also requested anonymity, said that many at the company had struggled with what they had come to view as their complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza. …