Protesters redirected Google I/O attendees over ties to Israeli military projects
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters linked arms in front of Google’s developer conference entrance, protesting the company’s ties to Israeli military projects. Attendees were redirected, and the event started on time. Groups, including the No Tech for Genocide coalition, held a sign reading “Google stop fueling genocide” and chanted “we won’t stop til Nimbus gets dropped,” referring to a $1.2bn project by Amazon and Google providing AI and cloud computing to Israel. A protester stated they were there to share “the real story.”
Google is expected to unveil significant product updates at today’s conference, with a strong focus on AI.
Today’s speakers won’t mention that at this moment, Israel is utilizing Google technology for what they claim is the first AI-driven genocide in history,” they stated. Among the attendees were current and former Google employees, including Ariel Koren, who alleges she was forced out of the company in 2022 for speaking against Project Nimbus. Koren stated that contracts such as Project Nimbus have facilitated “the first AI-enabled genocide in history.” Protesters are against this technology, which they assert is being tested in Gaza but could be used elsewhere in the future. “We are here to declare that we cannot sit idly by as this company supports and profits from this genocide,” she stated.
“[Google] not only builds the infrastructure for the Israeli military to escalate their crimes against humanity, but these tools are also being trialed and trained in Palestine to be exported to militaries worldwide, enabling them to perpetrate similar acts of violence,” she stated. “We may be witnessing the world’s first AI-enabled genocide. However, Google is attempting to ensure that this is not the last.”
Dozens more protesters gathered farther down the streets leading to the event, chanting: “Google you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide.” They distributed pamphlets aimed at Google employees, urging them to speak out against the company’s military agreements.
In the previous month, Google terminated more than 50 employees for engaging in a pro-Palestinian protest where they occupied Google campuses in New York City and Sunnyvale, California. The company faced large-scale employee walkouts in 2018 over its handling of sexual harassment cases.