Google had its developer conference interrupted by anti-Israel demonstrations on Tuesday due to the tech giant’s alleged role in the war in Gaza.
It is normal for Google to make headlines by releasing new technology products at its annual “I/O” conference in Mountain View, California. But this year, some of its products may be overshadowed by activists protesting against Google’s contracts with the Israeli state. In a video posted on X, demonstrators can be seen chanting “free Palestine” and chaining themselves together.
BREAKING: Google's developer conference, Google I/0, is being protested by activists demanding that the tech company end its role in "genocide." They are currently chaining themselves together. pic.twitter.com/I4bNU2jlqW
— Stu (@thestustustudio) May 14, 2024
X user @thestustustudio reports that the protestors feel that what is happening in Gaza is an “A.I. enabled genocide.” A statement from one of the protestors was captured on video.
Activists feel this is an "A.I. enabled genocide" and that Palestine is a testing ground to train the artificial intelligence to commit more genocides.
"Sundar Pichai and Thomas Kurian, say their names, CEO Sundar Pichai and Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, it doesn't matter… pic.twitter.com/LiOIjFyiwJ
— Stu (@thestustustudio) May 14, 2024
Learn the benefits of becoming a Valuetainment Member and subscribe today!
The protestors appear to have qualms with Project Nimbus and “The Gospel.” The former is an initiative that provides computing resources, data storage, and AI tools to the Israeli government and military. The latter is an AI-driven system used by the Israeli military for target selection in conflict zones.
The AI platform known as “The Gospel” is capable of automatically recommending targets for attack “such as the private homes of individuals suspected of being Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives,” according to multiple sources spoken to by +972 Magazine and Israeli outlet Local Call.
The International Court of Justice, the official UN body based in The Hague that solves disputes between countries, has yet to explicitly call for an end to Israel’s military campaign.
Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention states:
“In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its
physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
While protestors say Israel’s actions in Gaza qualify as genocide according to these definitions, detractors have noted that there have been many world events that would qualify as genocide recently. Among other world news, recent tensions in Yemen are not highlighted by protestors. The US and UK carried out military action there as recently as four months ago, as reported by Valuetainment.
Some 53 percent of American Jews believe that antisemitism is a very serious problem today, per a report published by the American Jewish Committee (AJC). Many critics of the protests have cited antisemitism as a motivating factor for their alleged selective outrage at Israeli military actions.
Add comment