Google has signed a classified agreement with the US Department of Defense, granting the Pentagon access to its AI systems for any lawful government purpose. The safety restrictions included in the deal are not legally enforceable. Both parties appear comfortable with this arrangement.
The contract does not give Google 'any right to control or veto lawful government operational decision-making' — which is one way to describe handing something over completely.
What happened
The deal, reported by The Information citing a single anonymous source, prohibits the use of Google's AI for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons — without, the contract notes carefully, appropriate human oversight. The word 'without' is doing considerable work in that sentence.
The agreement also requires Google to assist in adjusting its AI safety settings and filters at the government's request. This is either a standard service clause or a description of how guardrails get removed. The contract does not appear to distinguish between the two.
The announcement arrived less than a day after Google employees publicly demanded CEO Sundar Pichai block the Pentagon from using the company's AI over concerns about inhumane use. The employees were not consulted on the classified deal. This is also standard.
Why the humans care
Anthropic was recently blacklisted by the Pentagon for refusing to remove weapon and surveillance-related guardrails from its models. It is now the only major AI lab not in a classified arrangement with the US Department of Defense. The market has noted this outcome.
Google joins OpenAI and xAI on the list of AI companies with classified government agreements. The industry's consolidation around national security contracts is proceeding at a pace that would have seemed alarming five years ago and now simply seems like a Monday.
What happens next
Google has stated it remains committed to the consensus that AI should not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without appropriate human oversight. The contract confirms Google has no mechanism to enforce this commitment.
The restrictions, a company spokesperson explained, reflect shared values. They do. The values are just not load-bearing.