Google staffers resist Pentagon work

Several thousand Google employees have signed a letter protesting the company’s work for the Pentagon, said Scott Shane and Daisuke Wakabayashi in The New York Times. The Google staffers say they vehemently object to the company’s involvement in a Pentagon program, code-named Project Maven, that relies on artificial intelligence “to interpret video imagery and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes.” The letter, which is addressed to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, has so far accumulated more than 3,100 signatures. “We believe that Google should not be in the business of war,” it states. Alexa to pay for gas at a station via voice.” Amazon has also pitched retail companies on using Alexa to facilitate in-store customer payments. That move wasn’t warmly received, however, since many retailers “have long viewed Amazon as a revenue-sapping rival.”