Google DeepMind employees in the UK have asked the government to intervene in a push to unionize the artificial intelligence lab.
On Thursday, the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union—put forward by Google DeepMind staff as joint representatives—filed an application with the Central Arbitration Committee, a government body that resolves disputes between employers and unions.
The application, which was seen by WIRED, asks the CAC to confirm that the unions have enough support from workers to trigger a unionization ballot. The company would be required by law to respect the results. If successful, roughly 1,000 staff working in product-focused roles at Google DeepMind would qualify for union membership.
The escalation follows a series of meetings between employees, the unions, and company representatives over voluntary unionization, which left staff with the impression that their demands weren’t being taken seriously.
“They’ve been ignored. They feel like their problems have been minimized,” John Chadfield, national officer for technology at the CWU, tells WIRED. “Management has refused to come to the table. They sent it to the HR and labor relations people, who dealt with it as an administrative box-ticking exercise.”
“We respect the right of employees to make an informed decision about whether or not to join a union,” Google DeepMind spokesperson Tom Hewett tells WIRED in a statement. “We have consistently listened to both those seeking to unionize and those opposed, and have acted in good faith from the outset. We remain committed to constructively participating in this process, and have maintained open and transparent communication with our employees and the unions throughout.”
The push to unionize began in February 2025, when Alphabet, Google’s parent company, removed a pledge from its ethics guidelines stating that it wouldn’t use AI for purposes like weapons development.
“When I joined, we really made a big deal about the principles—the red lines. We were really looking to benefit humanity and make the world a better place,” a Google DeepMind employee, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of backlash, tells WIRED. “A lot of this is about reestablishing that ethical and moral framework that we started with.”
The employees pushing for unionization object in particular to agreements between the company and the US and Israeli militaries. If they succeed in unionizing, they intend to demand that Google backs out of those contracts.