Out of curiosity do you really feel "forcing them to do backdoor defense work" is an accurate depiction? Not a googler, just curious if the option to switch team or opt out of the work was available.
I am not sure about exact plans but I have ideas of the rough ones. Obviously this is not an official statement from Google!
Anyone will be able to opt-out of direct work on the project. Not sure about indirect work.
In the short-term, only a few people will work directly on the project. Long term maybe some more, since the goal is to get bigger projects. Many more people will indirectly contribute to it. For example, I recently TAed the ML101 class. Will one of my students work on the project, and whats the impact of that on my complicity?
Anyway, I basically think that if your company is a DoD contractor then you work for a DoD contractor, especially as an engineer. And I think the typical Googler is massively underestimating the implications of Google becoming a DoD contractor.
> Anyway, I basically think that if your company is a DoD contractor then you work for a DoD contractor, especially as an engineer. And I think the typical Googler is massively underestimating the implications of Google becoming a DoD contractor.
I think a lot of folks in tech are comfortable selling out other people (i.e. creating shitty products) to get some sense of financial security in the Bay Area.
I am ok selling out, but we all have our lines. I just think defense is probably not an uncommon one which makes it an unreasonable pivot for a huge company. Trying to act like "they're just another customer" is worth a good laugh at least.
That statement makes sense in the context of the article. People on the project objected to it's being used in a weapon platform. If I build a self driving car and you attach an auto-targeting turret to it you've forced my work into a weapon platform even if I didn't turn the wrench attaching the turret.
