Google is facing a legal challenge from an AI engineer who claims he was unfairly dismissed after protesting against the company’s work for the Israeli government. The engineer, who is of Palestinian heritage, distributed leaflets at Google DeepMind’s London offices reading “Google provides military AI to forces committing genocide” and urged colleagues to unionise.
According to an employment tribunal claim filed in the UK, the engineer alleges he was discriminated against for his belief that no one should be complicit in war crimes. He claims he was laid off in September after a meeting with a manager, after which Google concluded he had resigned – which he denies. Google DeepMind disputed the account, saying it “does not accurately reflect the facts”.
The engineer said the job had been “a childhood dream” but his feelings changed as Google signed more deals. He felt “terrible” because “you were going in every day and you feel like you are betraying humanity and your people”. Google’s position is understood to be that it would not fire an employee for expressing opinions or engaging in constructive discourse in line with company policy.
The case highlights growing staff concern over Google’s AI being used by national defence and intelligence operations. An insider at DeepMind said the 2025 change to Google’s AI principles fuelled concern, and that at least 10 people had quit as a matter of principle. Another insider said many staff oppose “irresponsible use, or misuse by anti-democratic actors”.
Last month hundreds of Google workers called for a bar on the US government using the company’s AI for classified defence work. However, Google signed an AI deal with the Pentagon after Anthropic declined to remove guardrails preventing its AI being used for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance. Google said it was committed to the consensus that AI should not be used for such things “without appropriate human oversight”.
Rosa Curling, co-executive director at tech justice campaign group Foxglove, which is supporting the case, said the ex-employee “tried to restore the ethical compass at Google”. The employment dispute comes amid growing public resistance against AI, with one in three university students in Great Britain fearing AI will wipe out jobs so rapidly it will lead to social unrest.
