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Google Violated Catastrophic Primary evidence Military

Google: 'We will not design or deploy AI for weapons'

Made 2018-06-07 00:00:00+00 · Audience · Employees
The promise
“We will not design or deploy AI in the following application areas: … Weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people.”
Google AI Principles, 7 June 2018 (archived) ↗
Why it matters
$
$9 million
estimated public cost
⚠
Environmental / societal impact
AI-powered drone surveillance capabilities were deployed in conflict zones, expanding the use of autonomous targeting in warfare.
⚖
Legal outcome
No legal action; Google quietly resumed defence contracts through other channels.
Source & Methodology

Financial figure is the estimated contract value of Project Maven. Societal impact reflects the precedent set for tech-military AI collaboration.

After internal protests over Project Maven, Google published seven AI Principles including a categorical ban on AI for weapons. In February 2025 the company quietly removed the prohibitions on weapons and surveillance from the same page.

What actually happened (2 sourced violations)
  1. #1 2025-02-04 00:00:00+00 2,433 days later primary evidence
    Google removes the prohibitions against using AI for weapons and surveillance from its public AI Principles page.
    Washington Post, 4 February 2025 ↗
  2. #2 2024-04-12 00:00:00+00 2,135 days later primary evidence
    Reporting confirms Google's Project Nimbus contract supplies AI infrastructure to the Israeli military, including units engaged in active combat operations.
    The Guardian, 12 April 2024 ↗
Followup — no correction on record
164 days tracked without correction

As of 2026-10-14, the entity has issued no public correction, retraction, or course-change. The platform has tracked this promise continuously since 2026-05-03.

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⌗ Cite this
Permalinkhttps://www.goblinhouse.net/lies/google-project-maven-no-weapons-2018
CitationGoblin House. "Google: Google: 'We will not design or deploy AI for weapons'" (documented promise). Goblin House — The Architecture of Secrecy. Accessed October 14, 2026. https://www.goblinhouse.net/lies/google-project-maven-no-weapons-2018.

Sourced from public records and content-hashed; verify via /attestation, standard at /methodology.

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