Sundar Pichai announces Google's retreat from US military's AI weapon's project

In his blog post on Thursday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the Internet giant will not "design or deploy" Artificial Intelligence(AI) in "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people".

Pichai, however, clarified that the company will continue to work with the US governmentand the military in many areas.

Pichai wrote,"we will not design or deploy AI"in the following application areas:

"Technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm. Where there is a material risk of harm...weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people....weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people...technologies that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms...technologies whose purpose contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights".

He further specified that Artificial Intelligencewill be used in cybersecurity, training, military recruitment and the veterans’ healthcare, and search and rescue.

Google's decision to retreat from a deal with the US military came in response to the severe backlash it receivedfrom its employees against the company's collaboration with the US military.

According to a report, the partnership of Google with the US Department of Defense had jolted the internet company.

Thousands of workers had filed a petition asking Google to stay out of "the business of war". Some even quit the company to protest against the collaboration with the military.

The backlash forced the Internet titan not to continue with the contract aimed at helping the US military analyse aerial drone imagery.

After the protest by the workers, Google has decided not to renew the "Maven" AI project with the US Defence Department after it expires in 2019.