Google drops out of contention for a $10 billion defense contract because it could conflict with its corporate values

[nir]

• Google has dropped out of a bidding war with Amazon and other cloud computing companies for Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI), a $10 billion contract from the Pentagon.
• Google chose to withdraw because the contract may conflict with its corporate values, and its principles over the ethical use of AI.
• This decision comes just months after several employees signed a petition, and even resigned, over Google's involvement with military projects.
• The contract is winner-take-all, with Amazon seen as the frontrunner.

Google dropped out of the competition for a crucial Pentagon cloud computing contract valued at over $10 billion, the company confirms with Business Insider.

 

The news, which was originally reported by Bloomberg, comes on the same day that the search giant announced the shutdown of the Google+ social network, in the wake of reports of a major security lapse. It also comes just months after Google employees protested en masse over the company's work with the United States military.

 

This $10 billion cloud contract, called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI), will be awarded to build cloud services for the Department of Defense. Google says it chose not to compete for the contract because it believes this work would conflict with its corporate principles, and because it believes it may not hold all of the necessary certifications.

 

"While we are working to support the US government with our cloud in many areas, we are not bidding on the JEDI contract because first, we couldn't be assured that it would align with our AI Principles and second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications," a Google spokesperson said.

 

Companies competing for the contract must submit their bids by October 12. As only one company will be awarded the contract, Amazon is seen as the frontrunner. Several companies, including Oracle, IBM and Microsoft, were working together to oppose the winner-take-all approach rather than splitting the contract among multiple vendors. Google, in particular, believes it would be in the Pentagon's best interest to allow multiple clouds.

 

"Had the JEDI contract been open to multiple vendors, we would have submitted a compelling solution for portions of it," a spokesperson said in a statement. "Google Cloud believes that a multi-cloud approach is in the best interest of government agencies, because it allows them to choose the right cloud for the right workload."

 

Earlier this year, controversy emerged within Google over the company's participation in Project Maven, an effort to build artificial intelligence for the Department of Defense to analyze drone video footage, which could be used to target drone strikes.

 

In April, more than 4,000 Google employees signed a petition demanding that the company discontinue Project Maven and promise to never "build warfare technology." Some employees even resigned in protest.

 

In June, Google said it would not renew the contract once it expired, and that same month, it released a set of principles for its work in AI. According to those principles, Google will not design or deploy AI that can cause harm or injury to people, that can gather information for surveillance that "violates internationally accepted norms," or that violates international law and human rights principles.

 

"We will continue to pursue strategic work to help state, local and federal customers modernize their infrastructure and meet their mission critical requirements," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

 

Meanwhile, Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently took meetings in Washington to try to rebuild the company's relationship with the military amid all the employee unrest. The company faces allegations from President Donald Trump and his allies that it biases search results against politically conservative sources.

 

Source

[Zoot]

1 hour ago, nir said:

Google chose to withdraw because the contract may conflict with its corporate values, and its principles

google has values and principles?

[Soze]

My hero! 

 

(swoons) 

 

https://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/googles_secret_nsa_alliance_the_terrifying_deals_between_silicon_valley_and_the_security_state/

[knowledge-Spammer]

Trump accepts Nikki Haley’s resignation at White House 

[Rekkio]

So Google drops out of a Defense contract that could help use AI instead of soldiers' lives, but using AI to build a censored search engine and monitoring tools for China is fine 

 

If they don't want to do it someone else will or soldiers will still be required, AI will help something that will be done anyway be it with AI or not. They just lost a $10 billion contract because it somehow conflicts with their imaginary policies.

 

Not to even mention, Google is an American company that helps China (stealing US Intellectual Property) but doesn't want to help its home country 

Perhaps adding some bits of IRS to the sauce will help them apply that company policy to China as well?

[steven36]

2 hours ago, Rekkio said:

So Google drops out of a Defense contract that could help use AI instead of soldiers' lives, but using AI to build a censored search engine and monitoring tools for China is fine 

 

If they don't want to do it someone else will or soldiers will still be required, AI will help something that will be done anyway be it with AI or not. They just lost a $10 billion contract because it somehow conflicts with their imaginary policies.

 

Not to even mention, Google is an American company that helps China (stealing US Intellectual Property) but doesn't want to help its home country 

Perhaps adding some bits of IRS to the sauce will help them apply that company policy to China as well?

Google , Microsoft  or any of the others  are not up to  standards  yet to get the contract no way , only Amazon meets the required Government  standards ..So they say what they want, because  they was not going get this contract  no way .   So this news not even worth the space  it takes up on the board. 

 

Quote

 

According enterprise network security experts reports, Amazon Web Services is currently the only cloud service provider to accomplish these standards, although Microsoft and IBM officials claim that they are close to the standard.

 

Defense Department spokespersons comment that the JEDI Cloud project is an acquisition for commercial cloud technologies that will allow combatants to better execute a mission that is increasingly dependent on information exploitation.

 

http://www.securitynewspaper.com/2018/08/03/pentagon-cyber-war-cloud-10-billion-project-bidding-process-open/

 

Google lags behind IBM and Microsoft's cloud.. Amazon Rules the Cloud for now . What good is it to make excuses for something they don't even qualify for? It sound like a bunch of  progressive PR,  because in reality  there is no way they could win this contract . People on the internet have lost touch and are making news out of contracts that's out of 99%  of Big Techs reach.

 

That's like if your next door neighbour won the lottery and  you say i didn't want the money no way,   because i don't believe in gambling, but in reality  your number didn't come up.