{"id":29400,"date":"2018-06-06T20:09:48","date_gmt":"2018-06-06T20:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2018\/06\/06\/no-surprise-google-bids-maven-farewell\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:18:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:18:33","slug":"no-surprise-google-bids-maven-farewell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/opinion\/2018\/06\/06\/no-surprise-google-bids-maven-farewell\/","title":{"rendered":"Clash of cultures? Maybe. But Google\u2019s also ditching Maven because its employees owned the message"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Google wants out of Maven \u2014 the program<\/a> that relies on artificial intelligence to interpret video images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I for one am not the least bit surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By way of background: In early April, The New York Times reported 3,100 Google employees signed a letter asking the company to pull out of the program, which would use Google\u2019s AI technology to help identify objects in drone video. Those objects could become targets, employees argued, and they didn\u2019t want their talents being used or potentially used as a weapon of war. Wanting to avoid a mass exodus, Google told employees earlier this month that it would not renew the contract with the Pentagon after the current deal expires next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My colleague Mike Gruss described the letter in his own editorial<\/a> for sister publication C4ISRNET as an act of pacifism. He also argued that it could be viewed as a subtle attack on the outreach to the tech community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPentagon leaders have not made a convincing case as to why their dollars and their vision to change the world are any more altruistic than the next guy with billion-dollar pockets,\u201d he said. The Pentagon wants to move faster and is looking to Silicon Valley to do so, but Silicon Valley can\u2019t quite sync up culturally with the ultimate goals of the Pentagon, he added. It\u2019s a lost cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\t