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Three years after an employee revolt forced Google to stop working on a Pentagon program that uses artificial intelligence, the company is aggressively pursuing a major contract to supply its technology to the military.

The company’s plan to sign the potentially lucrative contract, known as Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, could spark anger among the outspoken workforce and test management’s determination to resist employee demands.

In 2018, thousands of Googlers signed a letter protesting the company’s participation in Project Maven, a military program that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video footage and could be used to improve targeting of drone strikes. Google management gave up and agreed not renewing the contract once expired.

This outcry prompted Google to create guidelines for the ethical use of artificial intelligence, prohibiting the use of its technology for weapons or surveillance, causing a jolt to its cloud computing business. Now, as Google positions cloud computing as a key part of its future, the proposal for the new Pentagon contract could test the limits of AI principles that set it apart from other tech giants that routinely seek military and intelligence work.

The military’s initiative, aimed at modernizing the Pentagon’s cloud technology and supporting the use of artificial intelligence to gain an advantage on the battlefield, replaces a military initiative. contract with Microsoft canceled this summer during a long legal battle with Amazon. Google did not compete with Microsoft for this contract after the turmoil over Project Maven.

The Pentagon’s relaunch of its cloud computing project gave Google a chance to re-bid, and the company raced to prepare a bid to present to Defense officials, according to four people familiar with the matter and not authorized to speak publicly. . In September, Google’s cloud unit made this a priority, declaring an internal “Code Yellow” emergency that allowed the company to pull engineers from other tasks and focus them on the military project.

On Tuesday, Thomas Kurian, CEO of the Google cloud unit, Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Q. Brown, Jr. and other senior Pentagon officials to file lawsuits on behalf of his company, he said.

Google said in a written statement that it is “committed to serving our public sector customers”, including the Department of Defense, and will “seize future bidding opportunities accordingly.”

Contract replaces the now scrapped Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDIPentagon cloud computing contract estimated to be worth $10 billion over 10 years. The exact size of the new contract is unknown, but half the time and will be awarded to multiple companies, not a single provider like JEDI.

It’s unclear whether the Department of Defense’s work to gain access to Google’s cloud products would violate Google’s AI principles, although the Department of Defense has said the technology is expected to support the military in combat. But the Pentagon’s rules about outside access to sensitive or classified data may prevent Google from seeing exactly how its technology is being used.

The Department of Defense said it will seek proposals from a limited number of companies that can meet its requirements. “As this is an active acquisition, we are unable to provide any additional information regarding this effort,” said department spokesperson Russell Goemaere.

Google, which started late to sell its cloud computing technology to other organizations, has had a hard time closing the gap with Amazon and Microsoft, the two largest cloud computing businesses. To attract more big customers, Google hired long-time executive Mr. Kurian at software company Oracle to take over the business in 2018. Kurian increased the number of Google’s sales staff, forcing the company to compete aggressively for new contracts. including military agreements.

But Googlers continued to resist some of the work carried out by the cloud unit. In 2019, they protested the use of artificial intelligence tools for the oil and gas industry. A year later, the company said it would not create custom AI software for fossil fuel extraction.

Started working on Google Maven Project In 2017 and prepared to bid for JEDI. Many Googlers believed Project Maven represented a potentially deadly use of artificial intelligence, and more than 4,000 employees Signed a letter demanding Google’s withdrawal from the project.

Shortly after, Google announced a series of ethical principles would manage the use of artificial intelligence. CEO Sundar Pichai said Google will not allow its AI to be used for weapons or surveillance, but will continue to accept military contracts for cybersecurity and search and rescue.

A few months later, Google said it would not bid on the JEDI contract, but the company had little chance of reaching an agreement: The Maven experience had broken the relationship between Google and the military, and Google lacked some of the security. certificates required to process classified data.

Google’s cloud business has done other things with the military lately. Since last year, Google has signed contracts with the US Air Force for the use of cloud computing for aircraft maintenance and pilot training, as well as a US Navy contract to use artificial intelligence to detect and predict the maintenance needs of facilities and ships.

Some Googlers believe the new agreement will not violate principles, one familiar with the decision said the agreement will provide for general uses of cloud technology and artificial intelligence. Principles, particularly Google’s,weapons or those that cause direct injury”

Lucy Suchman, a professor of science and technology anthropology at Lancaster University, whose research focuses on the use of technology in warfare, said it’s not surprising that Google hesitated in its commitment with so much money at stake.

“This demonstrates the fragility of Google’s commitment to stay out of the great merger that has occurred between DOD and Silicon Valley,” said Ms Suchman.

Google’s efforts come as its employees are already pushing the company to cancel a cloud computing contract with the Israeli military. Project Nimbusprovides Google’s services to government agencies throughout Israel. a Open letter published last month by The GuardianGoogle employees urged their employers to cancel the contract.

The Department of Defense’s effort to transition to cloud technology is mired in legal battles. The military works on legacy computer systems and has spent billions of dollars on modernization. He turned to US internet giants in hopes that companies could move the Department of Defense to the cloud quickly and securely.

Ministry of Defense in 2019 JEDI awarded the contract to Microsoft. Amazon sued to block contractclaimed that Microsoft did not have the technical capabilities to meet the needs of the military and that it improperly influenced the decision because of former President Donald J. Trump’s hostility to Amazon’s chairman of the board and owner of The Washington Post, Jeff Bezos.

In July, the Department of Defense announced that it could no longer wait for the legal battle with Amazon to be resolved. information technology cancels JEDI contract Said it would be replaced. Common Warfighting Cloud Capability.

The Pentagon also stated that Amazon and Microsoft are the only companies that may have the technology to meet their needs, but will do market research before eliminating other competitors. The Department of Defense said it plans to reach out to Google, Oracle and IBM.

But two people familiar with the matter said Google executives believe they have the capacity to compete for the new contract, and the company expects the Department of Defense to say whether it will qualify for a bid in the coming weeks.

The Department of Defense has previously said it hopes to sign a contract by April.