{"id":594520,"date":"2026-05-20T15:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T15:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/594520\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T15:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T15:21:09","slug":"google-deepmind-in-talks-with-uk-unions-amid-staff-concern-over-us-and-israels-ai-use-google","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/594520\/","title":{"rendered":"Google DeepMind in talks with UK unions amid staff concern over US and Israel\u2019s AI use | Google"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google DeepMind<\/a> has agreed to enter formal talks with UK tech workers that could lead to trade union representation amid growing staff concerns about the use of its AI by the US and Israeli governments\u2019 defence and intelligence.<\/p>\n

In a groundbreaking move, the artificial intelligence arm of the multi-trillion dollar Google empire, led by the Nobel prize winner Demis Hassabis<\/a>, has agreed to meet the Communications Workers Union and Unite at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) after several hundred workers at its London headquarters this month voted to unionise.<\/p>\n

Google DeepMind declined to voluntarily recognise the unions for collective bargaining purposes, but said in a staff email on Wednesday that talks at Acas \u201cmay lead to a formal ballot in a few months\u2019 time, giving all eligible employees the opportunity to vote on whether they want to be represented by the unions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Google is facing a court challenge<\/a> from a DeepMind AI researcher of Palestinian heritage who alleges he was wrongfully dismissed after protesting against its work for the Israeli government. The researcher is a member of the United Tech and Allied Workers\u2019 Union, a branch of the CWU. Google disputes his account of his departure.<\/p>\n

Israeli officials have credited Google\u2019s cloud computing with enabling \u201cphenomenal things [to] happen in combat\u201d during the Gaza conflict.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of workers have signed petitions raising concerns about the application of the technology, with concern rising since the company\u2019s 2025 decision to drop a promise not to allow its technologies to be used in harmful weapons or surveillance that violated international norms.<\/p>\n

In its message to staff on Wednesday, Google said its team\u2019s \u201cability to listen to one another and collaborate together has always been central to our culture \u2026 We fully respect the labour rights of all our employees, including the right to choose whether or not to be a union member. Your choice will not affect how you are treated at GDM.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Google DeepMind spokesperson said: \u201cWe\u2019ve declined the unions\u2019 request for voluntary recognition to bargain collectively on pay, hours and holiday, but we have offered to meet via Acas, which is a standard next step. We continue to value the constructive and direct dialogue that we have with our employees about building a positive and successful workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

A CWU source said: \u201cIt\u2019s a concession that they need to address some of the serious issues on the shopfloor. There\u2019s clearly a groundswell of opinion about the contracts they are expected to serve, for example the relationship with drone technology and the Israeli government and the relationship with the US military. This is definitely a step forward and they are not just shutting this off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Google DeepMind has agreed to enter formal talks with UK tech workers that could lead to trade union…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-594520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}