Employees at Google DeepMind in London have voted to unionize in an effort to stop the AI lab from supplying technology to the US and Israeli militaries.
In a letter sent to Google’s managing director for the UK and Ireland, Debbie Weinstein, the workers asked the company to recognize the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives for DeepMind employees.
The push is centered on ethics, according to John Chadfield, national officer for technology at the CWU. He said the workers want Google to follow its own AI standards, especially around monetization, product use, and business partnerships. He also said unionization gives workers more leverage when raising concerns with management.
The organizing effort began in February 2025, after Alphabet removed a pledge from its ethics guidelines that had said AI would not be used for things like weapons development and surveillance, according to a DeepMind employee who asked not to be named.
That change alarmed some staff who joined DeepMind because of its mission to build AI responsibly. The employee said the company’s direction now appears to be moving toward greater militarization of the models being built there.
Those concerns now extend across the AI industry. In late February, staff at DeepMind and OpenAI signed an open letter supporting Anthropic after the US Department of Defense tried to label the company a supply chain risk over its refusal to allow AI use in autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of US citizens. More recently, Google reportedly reached a deal letting the Pentagon use its AI for “any lawful government purpose.” The US Department of Defense later confirmed agreements with seven major AI companies, including Google, SpaceX, OpenAI, and Microsoft, to use their models on classified networks. Around 600 US-based Google employees reportedly signed a letter opposing the deal.
A DeepMind employee said the phrase “any lawful purpose” is so broad that it effectively means very little.
Google said it recently received a letter from Unite and the Communications Workers Union asking for recognition for Google DeepMind UK employees. The company said there has not yet been a union vote and added that it values constructive dialogue with employees and wants to maintain a positive workplace.
Google has previously defended its government work. The company said it is part of a broader group of AI labs and cloud providers supporting national security and said it remains committed to the view that AI should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without proper human oversight.
Google employees in the US formed the Alphabet Workers Union in 2021. Alphabet does not recognize it for collective bargaining, but the union has previously won agreements for Google contractors.
If the UK union effort succeeds, the DeepMind employee said workers are likely to push Google to end its long-running contract with the Israeli military, increase transparency around how its AI products are used, and seek some form of protection around layoffs tied to automation.
If Google does not engage, the letter says workers will ask an arbitration committee to force the company to recognize the unions.
The union effort comes as Anthropic and OpenAI have both expanded in London since the start of the year. CWU hopes the DeepMind campaign will encourage workers at those companies to organize as well.
“These conversations are happening,” Chadfield said. “Workers at other frontier labs have seen what Google DeepMind workers have done. They’ve come to us asking for help as well.”
