Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle; Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI By 2026-05-03T08:17:01.292Z On April 27, more than 600 Google employees signed a letter urging CEO Sundar Pichai to prevent the Pentagon from using the company's AI products for classified operations. Google had spent the previous months building a closer relationship with the US Defense Department after a few frosty years. In 2018, more than 4,000 Googlers sent a letter imploring Pichai to cancel Project Maven, a contract that used Google's AI to analyze drone footage. Google chose not to renew the contract, and drew up a set of company-wide principles that included a pledge not to use its AI for military or surveillance. The language in the two employee letters — sent eight years apart — was strikingly similar. Both, in six paragraphs, warned of "irreparable damage" to Google's reputation. Both argued that Google would ultimately not be able to control how the Pentagon uses the technology.…