Google deletes commitment not to use AI for weapons – and Black History, Pride, Holocaust Day from calendar

Search engine company claims calendar model is ‘unsustainable’

Search engine company Google has deleted its commitment not to use artificial intelligence (AI) in ways ‘likely to cause harm’ from its AI guidelines, a move condemned by Human Rights Watch (HRW) because of the use of AI by Israel, in its Gaza genocide, and others to choose targets to be killed, as a means of distancing human actors from liability for war crimes. Google justified its decision by claiming that it needs to use AI in a way that ‘supports national security’.

The move is part of a growing phenomenon among tech companies with, for example, AI and software Palantir‘s CEO boasting recently how much he was enjoying running a company the ‘scare[s] enemies and on occasion kill[s] them’.

Google’s AI move has been quickly followed by the company’s decision to remove events from its calendar including Pride Month, Black History Month and Holocaust Remembrance Day from its online calendar. The company responded to criticism of this decision by describing its calendar process as ‘unsustainable’. It will now only show public holidays and ‘national observances’, which – as they vary by country – would seem on the face of it to be a lot more complex to sustain than the globally-observed days it has deleted.

Google’s motto has been ‘Don’t be evil’, which its parent company replaced with ‘Do the right thing’, though the business retained its original tagline until now.

Skwawkbox needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (Skwawkbox will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount as it has to be entered by us). Alternatively, if you prefer to make a one-off or recurring donation by simple card payment, please use the form below:

Thanks for your solidarity so Skwawkbox can keep doing its job of inconveniencing the right and helping to build the left!

If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.