Google Retreats on AI Ethics: Scrapping Promise Not to Develop AI Weapons Amidst Growing Geopolitical Tensions

Google Retreats on AI Ethics: Scrapping Promise Not to Develop AI Weapons Amidst Growing Geopolitical Tensions

In a move that has sent ripples of concern throughout the tech world and beyond, Google has quietly revised its artificial intelligence (AI) principles, deleting explicit commitments that previously barred the company from developing AI for use in weapons, surveillance, and technologies designed to cause harm. This significant shift, first brought to light by The Washington Post and subsequently confirmed by the Internet Archive's records, has ignited a fresh wave of ethical debates surrounding the development and deployment of increasingly powerful AI systems. The timing of this change, coinciding with a blog post by Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Google's senior executive for technology and society, James Manyika, outlining new "core tenets" for AI principles, has further fueled speculation and anxiety about the future of AI ethics at Google. The Shift in Stance: A Closer Look at the Revised Principles: Google's original AI principles, once hailed as a b…