Ex-Defense Official Blasts Google for Dropping Pentagon’s AI Project While Helping China’s

Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google Inc., speaks about Google's improvements in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning at a product launch event, Oct. 4, 2017, at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, California. ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP/Getty Images

Google’s decision to cut ties with Pentagon’s artificial intelligence program could put American lives at risk, according to a former top U.S. defense official, who pointed out that the tech giant is helping U.S. adversaries such as China develop AI technology that could be used against the United States in a conflict.

News broke last week that a group of Google engineers refused to continue working on a project that Google had contracted with the Department of Defense. Project Maven sought to apply AI tools to help the U.S. military analyze drone footage.