Workers at Google DeepMind, the London-headquartered AI research laboratory owned by Alphabet, have voted to unionise and are seeking formal recognition of two UK trade unions — the Communication Workers Union and Unite — as joint representatives of the lab's staff. The move was driven in part by last week's announcement that Google had joined a Pentagon agreement to make AI tools available to the US military, as well as longstanding concerns over the company's Project Nimbus contract with the Israeli government and its 2024 decision to drop a pledge not to develop militarised AI. At least 1,000 workers would be covered by the union, making it the first at a so-called "frontier" AI lab to seek formal recognition; employees say they are prepared to stage research strikes and protests if the company refuses to meet demands for independent ethics oversight and the right to refuse morally objectionable projects.