Originally, long before the current surge of interest in the ethics of AI, Google’s founders, Sergei Brin and Larry Page, said their motto for the firm was “don’t be evil”.
When the company was restructured under the name Alphabet Inc in 2015 the parent company switched to “Do the right thing”.
Since then Google staff have sometimes pushed back against the approach taken by their executives.
In 2018, the firm did not renew a contract for AI work with the US Pentagon following resignations and a petition signed by thousands of employees.
They feared “Project Maven” was the first step towards using artificial intelligence for lethal purposes.
The blog was published just ahead of Alphabet’s end of year financial report, showing results that were weaker than market expectations, and knocking back its share price.
That was despite a 10% rise in revenue from digital advertising, its biggest earner, boosted by US election spending.
In its earnings report the company said it would spend $75bn ($60bn) on AI projects this year, 29% more than Wall Street analysts had expected.
The company is investing in the infrastructure to run AI, AI research, and applications such as AI-powered search.
