Google has updated its ethical policies on artificial intelligence, eliminating a pledge to not use AI technology for weapons development and surveillance. According to a now-archived version of

Google has made one of the most substantive changes to its AI principles since first publishing them in 2018. In a change spotted by The Washington Post, the search giant edited the document to remove pledges it had made promising it would not "design or deploy" AI tools for use in weapons or surveillance technology.

Google came under serious pressure back in 2018 after it was revealed the company had a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense for something called Project Maven, which used AI for drone imaging.