Employees at Google DeepMind are raising alarms about safety protocols following a tragic incident involving federal agents that resulted in a fatal shooting. Their concerns are heightened by a reported attempt by a federal agent to access a Google office last fall. While some leaders in the tech industry are beginning to voice their apprehensions, Google’s senior executives have yet to address these issues internally.
A separate Google DeepMind staffer raised concerns about a federal agent’s alleged attempt to enter the company’s Cambridge, Massachusetts office in the fall, Wired reported.
Google DeepMind employees have asked the company’s leadership for plans and policies to keep them “physically safe” from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while on company premises, Wired reported. In an internal message board for Google ‘s roughly 3,000-person AI unit, an employee posted what they called a “US focused question” on Monday morning—two days after federal agents fatally shot Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti. The events of the past week have shown that immigration status, citizenship, or even the law is not a deterrent against detention, violence, or even death from federal operatives,” the employee wrote, according to screenshots of internal messages obtained by Wired. The message received more than 20 “plus emoji” reactions from other Google DeepMind staffers. By Monday evening, no senior leaders from Google had publicly responded, the report said. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees in an internal Slack message that “what’s happening with ICE is going too far,” according to The New York Times. He also called President Trump “a very strong leader” and expressed hope he would “rise to this moment.”
“What is GDM doing to keep us physically safe from ICE? Employee concerns aren’t unfounded. The DeepMind employee concerns come as other tech leaders have begun speaking out—carefully.