Google told employees that it was confident its work with the Department of Defense aligned with the company’s AI principles — and that it was “leaning more” into securing national security work with governments, Business Insider has learned.
In a Google DeepMind town hall in January, leaders including CEO Demis Hassabis addressed a question from staff that asked how Google was ensuring its partnerships with the Department of Defense and Boston Dynamics weren’t violating the company’s AI policies.
Tom Lue, Google DeepMind’s VP of global affairs, said the company has a “robust process” in place to review details around intended use cases and whether partners have protections for safety, responsibility, and privacy, according to a recording of the meeting reviewed by Business Insider.
Lue reminded staff that the company had updated its AI principles in 2025. That change removed a previous pledge not to use Google’s technology to develop weapons or for surveillance purposes.
“The north star for the analysis is whether the benefits substantially exceed the risks,” Lue said.
The tech industry’s role in warfare and surveillance has become a hot topic in recent weeks, following a feud between Anthropic and the Department of Defense. Anthropic drew red lines on how its AI could be used in warfare and surveillance, leading the Pentagon to designate the startup a “supply chain risk.” Anthropic later filed a lawsuit against the DoD over it being effectively blacklisted.
At the same time, tech companies such as Google, Amazon, and others — some of which once stood firm against involving themselves in the business of war — are increasingly vying for lucrative defense contracts.
In the January town hall, which predated Anthropic’s dust-up with the DoD, Lue said employees should expect more of these types of deals.
“I also want to mention, this is an area we’re going to be leaning more into. We’re talking with governments about their national security concerns,” Lue told employees.
He said the company was having conversations around cybersecurity and biosecurity risks.
Approached for comment, a Google DeepMind spokesperson pointed Business Insider to a blog post published last week describing the details of Google’s most recent Pentagon contract. It explains that the tool is used for jobs such as document drafting and project planning.
Google rebuilds its Pentagon relationship
Hassabis, who had once feared how Google might use DeepMind’s technology for warfare, told staff in the same town hall that he was “very comfortable” with the balance Google was striking.
“Obviously it’s a very complicated world as we can all see, but I think it’s incumbent on us to work with democratically elected governments and to provide the unique capabilities we’re world-class in to help the world be safer and be a benefit to the world,” he said.
Google re-engaged the Pentagon last year, securing contracts for its AI and cloud products after walking away from a military deal in 2018 amid an employee revolt. This month, it won a contract to deploy AI agents across the department’s unclassified networks.
Company leaders have said these deals involve using AI for largely clerical work and do not play a role in identifying, tracking, and striking targets. During the meeting, Lue said the Pentagon contract involved tasks such as summarizing information, extracting text from contracts, and other “back office type operations.”
Employees have raised concerns that Google may not have total control over how its partners ultimately use the technology, such as the AI tools it’s supplying to the Israeli government. Last month, employees from Google and OpenAI signed an open letter calling on their companies not to allow their technology to be used for autonomous killing or mass surveillance.
A whistleblower complaint filed with the SEC alleged that Google breached its own policies in 2024 by helping an Israeli drone contractor analyze footage, The Washington Post previously reported. A Google spokesperson told the Post that the usage of its AI services in that instance was too small to be “meaningful.”
It’s not only government contracts that have some Googlers worried. Google DeepMind said in January it was working with Boston Dynamics to integrate Gemini into one of its robots.
“Boston Dynamics was very clear in the terms that these technologies can’t be used for weaponization purposes. We have a very robust process in place,” said Lue during the town hall.
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