Google, GOOGL, removes pledge to not use AI for weapons from website

Google has reportedly revised its public artificial intelligence (AI) ethics policy, removing a previous commitment to avoid using AI for surveillance and weapons development.

The earlier version of Google’s AI principles explicitly prohibited work on certain applications, including "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people" and "technologies that gather or use information for surveillance in violation of internationally accepted norms."

According to multiple reports, those restrictions have now been taken out of the updated policy.

In a blog post published this week by Google’s AI leadership, the company emphasized that advances in AI frameworks have deepened the "understanding of AI’s potential and risks."

The post also highlighted the increasing complexity of global competition in AI development within the current geopolitical climate. It concluded with a call for democracies to take the lead in AI innovation, guided by values such as freedom, equality, and human rights.