Google workers rise: Unmasking fear of 'Israel's' AutoML use

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: TIME
10 Apr 2024 10:28
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A report by TIME sheds light on the momentum of the No Tech for Apartheid group, which has attracted around 40 actively engaged Google employees to rise against the Israeli contract known as Project Nimbus.

A woman walks past a Google building in New York, on Monday, Feb.26, 2024. (AP)

Key figures in a growing movement within Google dubbed No Tech for Apartheid are pushing for the cancellation of Project Nimbus, a substantial contract valued at $1.2 billion with "Israel", jointly held with Amazon, in the wake of the ongoing Israeli genocide against Palestinians.

A report by TIME sheds light on the group's momentum, drawing in around 40 actively engaged Google employees in organizing efforts, with many more expressing solidarity with their cause.

The big picture

Google employees cite three primary concerns driving their protests: first, the Israeli Finance Ministry's explicit statement in 2021 indicating that Project Nimbus would serve the Ministry of Security; second, the types of services potentially made available to the Israeli government through Google's cloud platform; and third, Google's apparent inability to oversee how "Israel" utilizes its technology.

Workers fear that Google's advanced AI and cloud computing capabilities could be exploited for surveillance, military targeting, or other militaristic purposes, the report stressed.

According to reports, the terms of the contract prevent Google and Amazon from restricting specific government entities, including the Israeli military, from accessing their services and prohibit contract termination due to public pressure.

While there is no proof that "Israel" has employed Google Cloud for this purpose, recent reports from The New York Times suggest that Israeli soldiers have utilized the facial recognition feature on Google Photos, along with other external technologies, to identify individuals at checkpoints.

Recent Israeli media reports suggest that airstrikes are being conducted with the assistance of an AI targeting system. However, it remains unclear which cloud provider, if any, is supplying the computing infrastructure necessary for such a system to operate. Google employees point out that due to security protocols, tech firms typically have minimal visibility, if any, into activities on the sovereign cloud servers of government clients.

Other Google employees express unease about Project Nimbus based on their understanding of Google Cloud. Typically, the company provides cloud technology featuring tools like AutoML, which enables users to quickly train machine learning models with custom datasets. According to three workers, as quoted by TIME, the Israeli government could potentially utilize AutoML to develop a surveillance or targeting tool, along with other non-Google technologies, to identify suspects at checkpoints.

“Providing powerful technology to an institution that has demonstrated the desire to abuse and weaponize AI for all parts of war is an unethical decision,” says Gabriel Schubiner, a former researcher at Google, as quoted by TIME. “It’s a betrayal of all the engineers that are putting work into Google Cloud.”

A Google representative declined to respond to inquiries regarding whether AutoML was supplied to "Israel" as part of Project Nimbus.

According to members of No Tech for Apartheid, assuming that "Israel" isn't leveraging Google's hardware and software for aggressive purposes would be overly optimistic, the report added.

“If we have no oversight into how this technology is used,” says Rachel Westrick, a Google software engineer as quoted by TIME, “then the Israeli military will use it for violent means.”

Current and former Google employees express apprehension about voicing dissent internally regarding Project Nimbus or showing support for Palestinians, citing concerns about potential reprisals. Despite this, workers assert that internal dissent is on the rise.

“We’re not going to stop,” says Zelda Montes, a YouTube software engineer, of No Tech for Apartheid, as quoted by TIME. “I can say definitively that this is not something that is just going to die down. It’s only going to grow stronger.”

How it all started

During a conference promoting the Israeli tech industry in midtown Manhattan on March 4, Google's managing director for "Israel", Barak Regev, encountered a protest from a member of the audience. The protester, identified as Eddie Hatfield, a 23-year-old Google Cloud software engineer, stood up wearing an orange t-shirt with a white Google logo and declared his refusal to build technology supporting genocide, apartheid, or surveillance.

Following the interruption, Regev acknowledged the act of protest, emphasizing the importance of respecting diverse opinions within a company that upholds democratic values.

Google terminated Hatfield's employment three days later.

Hatfield is part of an emerging movement within Google known as No Tech for Apartheid, which advocates for the termination of Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract with "Israel" shared with Amazon, TIME reported.

The group has attracted approximately 40 Google employees actively involved in organizing, with hundreds more showing sympathy toward their cause, according to its members.

Five current and five former Google employees expressed growing frustration over Google potentially supporting "Israel" in its ongoing genocide in Gaza, as per TIME.

Additionally, two former Google employees disclosed as cited by TIME that they had recently resigned from the company in protest against Project Nimbus.

Dive deeper

The protest by No Tech for Apartheid is driven by concerns about the secrecy surrounding Project Nimbus. The contract, announced by the Israeli Finance Ministry in 2021, involves Google and Amazon providing AI and cloud computing services to the Israeli government and military.

Nimbus entails Google setting up a secure instance of Google Cloud in "Israel", enabling the government to conduct extensive data analysis, AI training, database hosting, and other high-powered computing tasks using Google’s technology, with minimal oversight from the company. Google documents, initially revealed by The Intercept in 2022, indicate that the services offered to "Israel" include AI-driven facial recognition, automated image categorization, and object tracking.

However, specific details of the contract remain elusive, contributing to the frustration among workers who criticize Google for its lack of transparency regarding Project Nimbus and its broader relationship with "Israel", as per the report.

Neither Google, Amazon, nor "Israel" has provided information on the exact capabilities offered to "Israel" under the contract, exacerbating concerns about potential ethical implications.