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Google Drops Out of Pentagon's $10 Billion Cloud Competition (bloomberg.com)
Citing corporate values, Google has decided not to compete for the Pentagon's $10 billion cloud-computing contract. Bloomberg reports: The project, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud, or JEDI, involves transitioning massive amounts of Defense Department data to a commercially operated cloud system. Companies are due to submit bids for the contract, which could last as long as 10 years, on October 12th. Google's announcement on Monday came just months after the company decided not to renew its contract with a Pentagon artificial intelligence program, after extensive protests from employees of the internet giant about working with the military. The company then released a set of principles designed to evaluate what kind of artificial intelligence projects it would pursue. "We are not bidding on the JEDI contract because first, we couldn't be assured that it would align with our AI Principles," a Google spokesman said in a statement. "And second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications."
The spokesman added that Google is "working to support the U.S. government with our cloud in many ways." "Had the JEDI contract been open to multiple vendors, we would have submitted a compelling solution for portions of it," they said. "Google Cloud believes that a multi-cloud approach is in the best interest of government agencies, because it allows them to choose the right cloud for the right workload."
The spokesman added that Google is "working to support the U.S. government with our cloud in many ways." "Had the JEDI contract been open to multiple vendors, we would have submitted a compelling solution for portions of it," they said. "Google Cloud believes that a multi-cloud approach is in the best interest of government agencies, because it allows them to choose the right cloud for the right workload."
"We are not bidding on the JEDI contract because first, we couldn't be assured that it would align with our AI Principles," a Google spokesman said in a statement."
That's okay. They can bid for the Strategic Intervention Taskforce Headquarters instead.
This sounds like a typical stupid fascist statement. The company doesn't wish to support the military in this endeavour and that makes them unpatriotic? Even if it DOES get developed (which it most likely will) people can still feel better about not supporting it. Didn't the guy who created the electric chair end up regretting it? Sometimes peace of mind is a very comforting thing.
"but we draw the line at actually killing people."
That's Waymo's job.
Have gnu, will travel.
"We are not bidding on the JEDI contract because first, we couldn't be assured that it would align with our AI Principles," a Google spokesman said in a statement.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with sticking to your principles. But what are those principles that disallow working with the US government but allow working with the Chinese government? I wish Google would expound on those principles, because they might be righteous and moralistic. Or they might be principles based on maximum profit. I wouldn't be surprised if the profits from Dragonfly (and the ability to operate in China) dwarf the slice of the $10 billion JEDI Google might have been contemplating.
"And second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications."
That sounds weird. So get those certifications or hire people with those certifications. Google can't get certified to work with the US government, but they have no problems getting certified to work with the Chinese government.
Google's PR department needs an upgrade. These "reasons" don't make Google look that great.
I support your statement brickhouse. I want to add that the GP is jumping to conclusions. IMHO the "cloud" is a bad place to keep secure information. This JEDI project is a dumb idea and probably comes with some ridiculous onerous conditions, particularly for a multinational company. If I were Google, I simply wouldn't want the project and I could burnish my "Do no evil" credentials at the same time by acting like my hands were too clean to touch it.
Space Shuttle was a program that strapped humans to an explosion and tried to stab through the sky with fire and math
Google has gone from the 'Do No Evil' company to a Shit Company. How long until they are just plain evil? So with this story they have 'corporate values'. Really? What does that mean, when today we find out they had a massive data breach but decided not to notify the public because it would draw 'immediate regulatory scrutiny'. What it means is they carry around the flag of 'Do No Evil' and use it to hide all the evil things they actually are doing.
Moving government data onto servers that they have no control over sounds like an absolutely god-awful idea. Why would any company want to move to "cloud"-based storage? Are they forgetting that "the cloud" is just some guy's computer?