A core engineer on Google's Android security team recently chose to resign from the company because he was unable to accept Google's deepening cooperation in defense and military artificial intelligence. The engineer believed that Google had deviated from its long-stated ethical principles and gradually lost its "moral compass."
The departed René Mayrhofer is a lead software engineer in Android security and a self-described pacifist and privacy advocate who has served at Google's headquarters in Mountain View since 2017. In a farewell email to colleagues, he said he had "no choice but to leave" because he believed Google had "completely lost its moral compass."
This farewell letter was sent on May 18 this year, and was later disclosed by the media and confirmed by me to be authentic. In addition to criticizing the company's shift in ethical stance, the letter also singled out Google's management for backsliding on its carbon neutrality goals, especially the high energy consumption requirements brought about by supporting the operation of large-scale artificial intelligence models such as Gemini.
Meyerhoifer wrote strongly in the letter that the current Google management is signing an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense (called the "U.S. Department of War" in the letter), and in his view, "any use that the current U.S. government deems 'lawful' has been repeatedly proven to violate international law." He said he could no longer work for a company involved in military artificial intelligence applications.
Despite his harsh criticism of the company's direction, Meyerhofer emphasized that there are still "very good" employees within Google, but that their influence has become increasingly marginalized in the company's overall shift. He believes that compared with the situation when he joined in the early years, when senior leaders promote military-related cooperation, internal discussions and communication are obviously insufficient.
When Google went public on Wall Street in 2004, it used the slogan "Don't be evil" to build its image as an "outsider" in the technology industry. The slogan was subsequently written into the company's code of conduct and has been retained in some form until 2018. Today, Google, which is part of its parent company Alphabet, is increasingly involved in artificial intelligence projects with military applications and is cooperating with the Pentagon on a number of confidential projects.
The shift continues to spark controversy within the company, with some employees vocally opposing contracts related to the defense sector. Meyerhoifer mentioned that when he accepted Google's recruitment invitation, the company had not yet reached this stage. Nowadays, when senior leaders approve military-related cooperation, they mostly deal with it within a limited scope, with limited disclosure to ordinary employees.
"I am a pacifist who decided long ago that I would not work for a military engaged in offensive warfare," Meyerhoifer wrote in the letter. In his view, Google is now willing to "actively harm others," which he "cannot and will not participate in."
Unlike many of his colleagues, Meyerhoifer emphasized that he is not financially dependent on Google's salary. In addition to working on Android security at Google, he is also a professor at Johannes Kepler University in Austria and has long maintained a position in the EU academic system. He said that he has been able to contribute to Android security while maintaining academic work for many years, but now he is worried that some of Google's artificial intelligence products may be used for large-scale surveillance, including surveillance of European citizens.
"I am very sad that things have reached this point, and I sincerely hope that Google management can regain its moral compass." Meyerhoifer wrote at the end of the letter.