Google DeepMind research engineer resigns over the company's military AI contracts

Sofia Liguori, a research engineer who joined DeepMind in 2023, had worked on software to route electricity through power grids. She told The Intercept that learning of Google's Project Nimbus contract, which supplies Israel's military and major weapons makers with AI tools, led her to step down. She also pointed to Google's expansion of its Cloud authorization to IL6, the level required for classified workloads. Separately, the BBC reported that current and former DeepMind staff questioned whether Google has enough visibility into or control over how the Pentagon uses its models. For AI builders, the episode shows that staff objections to defense work can surface quickly, and labs that sell into classified government environments face recruiting and retention costs alongside contract revenue.