AI engineer says Google unfairly sacked him after he protested against work for Israel

"The engineer distributed flyers around Google DeepMind's London offices, which read Google provides military AI to forces committing genocide and asking colleagues: Is your paycheck worth this? He also emailed colleagues about Google's 2025 decision to drop a promise not to pursue weapons that harm people and surveillance violating international norms and urged them to unionise. According to the claim filed with the UK's employment tribunal, the worker alleges that Google discriminated against his belief that no one should be complicit in war crimes and that by emailing and leafleting colleagues he was acting as a whistleblower."

"He claims he was laid off in September following meetings with human resources after which Google concluded he had resigned, which he denies. Google DeepMind disputed his account. A spokesperson said it does not accurately reflect the facts. The engineer, who is of Palestinian heritage, told the Guardian that the job in a frontier AI research lab had been a childhood dream but his feelings changed as Google signed more deals."

"Requesting anonymity, he said he felt terrible, because you were going in every day and you feel like you are, you're betraying humanity and your people. It is understood that Google's position is that it would not fire an employee for expressing opinions or engaging in constructive discourse in line with its company policy or treat unionised workers differently. He had urged colleagues to join United Tech and Allied Workers, a branch of the Communication Workers Union."

An AI engineer of Palestinian heritage filed a claim with a UK employment tribunal alleging unfair dismissal after protesting Google DeepMind’s work for the Israeli government. The engineer distributed flyers around the London offices questioning whether colleagues’ pay was worth military AI used by forces committing genocide and urged colleagues to consider ethical complicity. He also emailed colleagues about a 2025 decision to drop a promise not to pursue weapons that harm people and surveillance violating international norms, and he urged unionisation. Google DeepMind disputed the account, stating it does not reflect the facts and that it would not fire employees for expressing opinions or engaging in constructive discourse under company policy. The engineer said he was laid off in September after human resources meetings, which he says concluded he had resigned, which he denies.

Read at www.theguardian.com