Google removes pledge to not use AI for weapons from website | TechCrunch

[kite@sh.itjust.works]

The canary died back when they removed "don't be evil". I think the canary was just resurrected as a Horizon Zero Dawn mech canary.

[fluxion@lemmy.world]

Corporations are people, my friend.

Sociopathic people.

[folknforage@lemm.ee]

“Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.”

• Groucho Marx

[folknforage@lemm.ee]

annakin_padme_meme.jpeg

[werefreeatlast@lemmy.world]

Maybe they should change their name to "Pacific Bell" something fitting like that. Or AT&T. Or Maybe something a little more adjusted to their near future... "Blockbuster"

[phoenixz@lemmy.ca]

We pledge this until we change our mind

Every large corporation ever

[davidagain@lemmy.world]

When they removed their "don't be evil" motto, I thought it was hilariously bad optics but probably came from some misguided thinking that if they stopped talking about the potential for evil, people would stop wondering whether they had bad motives and needed the motto to keep straight.

It became clearer and clearer that they removed the motto because they felt it was holding them back from greater profits and was skewing employee behaviours in ways they didn't want and bringing up objections to policy ideas that they wanted to avoid. It was never about the optics, it was about the profits.

Now, when Google removes a pledge not to make portable killer AIs and skynet, you have to accept that it's because they see making portable killer AIs and skynet as hugely profitable for them, and they don't want any good intentions or moral behaviour getting in the way of that profit.

[die4ever@programming.dev]

OP please edit your post to put the link in correctly https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/04/google-removes-pledge-to-not-use-ai-for-weapons-from-website/

[davidagain@lemmy.world]

Not any more, they don't!

[phr34ky@lemmy.world]

Every corporate pledge ends with "unless we can monetise it".

[saleh@feddit.org]

This is not about kill bots. This is about defining you as a terrorist threat to the US empire because you are friends with someone who criticised them on the internet. And they will wait to bomb you until you are home, so your family is also murdered along side you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI-assisted_targeting_in_the_Gaza_Strip
https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/

[seven_phone@lemmy.world]

How about domestic then, we promise not to make domestic killer robots for urban pacification, read control. Unless the domestic population requires it of course. Or we deem it necessary ourselves, or we feel like it. Your compliance with this message is assumed by the act of reading it.

[thegrandnagus@lemmy.world]

Don't, be evil.

[echodot@feddit.uk]

Like my organization that pledged to be 100% renewable energy based by 2025 and they promised that right up until early 2024, where it suddenly disappeared from the internal website, and now no one talks about it.

But in fairness they made absolutely zero progress towards this goal in the previous 4 years, so it was pretty obvious they never really meant it anyway.

[archchan@lemmy.ml]

It feels good to say that I've been rid of Google for a while. They can shove Play Serives and Store too.

[wrenfeathers@lemmy.world]

Well, that’s….. ominous.

[nobilmantis@feddit.it]

How is it with notifications and location nowadays? That's my main concern about switching. SafetyNet or dog developers enableing "check if app installed from playstore" stuff?

[sturgist@lemmy.ca]

something a little more adjusted to their near future

Sorry bud, with Herr Trumpf and Von Musk at the helm of the States, they're in absolutely no danger of being slapped down a few pegs....let alone broken up and made humble. Need a functional government based on the adherence to the rule of law for that. And unfortunately what they have is D.O.G.E. "streamlining" the removal of "woke" at maximum "efficiency."

[sturgist@lemmy.ca]

Give it a little while, all that'll be left is LLM "AI agents" manipulating stock markets and DMing eachother "Line go UP! BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
Until lack of maintenance makes all the power go out.

[werefreeatlast@lemmy.world]

At&t was the most important company in the world. Now, not so much at all. And it happened by pissing off the costumer beyond the point of no recurring business. If you make a good phone, I buy your next one. But if you sell me a phone subsidized by Amazon such that my every moved is recorded and inspected for possible purchases or alarms for authorities, I'm gonna hard pass on your next one. Oh, no next phone? No problem. The cassette died, the CD, DVD, blue ray, all died. Sony used to sell Walkmans and portable radios. Not anymore. Kodak used to sell chemicals, lenses, cameras, optics, etc, not anymore and there are no more manual cameras made in mass production at cheap prices. Similarly, Google will find its end. Now, I don't search by googling. That gives me shit results. I mix chat GPT and general search regardless of engine. I'm keenly aware of being monitored for purchase. I ignore email ads and YouTube ads. I use YouTube without logging in. In short I am less traceable or predictable. Thus I am less valuable. Also I will not buy IOS or Android phones for the same reason. So if I don't buy another device, I'm automatically not a customer for any online-only retailer. Think of your idiot friend or old family member who doesn't give a fuck about a phone... We all used to be like that. We have a phone only to be costumers... A source of revenue for large companies. Once we stop using our phones, then there's nothing to be had from us.