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Google reportedly not renewing contract for Project Maven drone program

Backlash against the company's involvement in the project led to the decision, according to Gizmodo.

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Google reportedly won't seek another contract for Project Maven, a Pentagon pilot AI program that could be used for drone strikes.

Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene made the announcement at a Friday employee meeting, people familiar with the matter told Gizmodo. Strong backlash against the company's involvement in the project reportedly led to the company's decision not to continue to pursue the project. Greene said Google decided to work on Project Maven "at a time when Google was more aggressively pursuing military work," Gizmodo reported.

According to BuzzFeed News, Greene said "We've always said this was an 18-month contract that we did, so it ends in March of 2019." She added, "There will be no follow-on to Maven."

Project Maven, which would have provided AI and image recognition tech for analyzing drone footage, has received plenty of backlash. In April, more than 3,000 Google employees pushed back against the project, signing a petition calling for the company to end its work with the Pentagon. "We believe that Google should not be in the business of war," the letter stated. That led Google to reportedly work on ethical guidelines relating to military contracts. 

Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.