Google workers are protesting against Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract with Israel, jointly held with Amazon. The protest group called No Tech for Apartheid, has around 40 Google employees closely involved in organizing, and they claim there are hundreds more workers sympathetic to their goals.
The contract is for Google and Amazon to provide AI and cloud computing services to the Israeli government and military. Nimbus reportedly involves Google establishing a secure instance of Google Cloud on Israeli soil, which would allow the Israeli government to perform large-scale data analysis, AI training, database hosting, and other forms of powerful computing using Google’s technology, with little oversight by the company.
The protest is as much about what the public doesn’t know about Project Nimbus as what it does. The workers’ frustration lies in what they say is Google’s lack of transparency about what else Project Nimbus entails and the full nature of the company’s relationship with Israel.
The protest against Project Nimbus highlights the ethical concerns and transparency issues surrounding the use of AI and cloud computing services in government and military operations.
Read more at: time.com