Tech giant Alphabet (GOOGL) is heading into its first-quarter 2026 earnings release tomorrow with questions around its policy for military use of AI. This comes as reports indicate that Google has entered such an AI deal with the U.S. Department of Defense, amid opposition from hundreds of its researchers.
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Google Signs Classified AI Deal with Pentagon
According to The Information, which broke the news, Google has agreed to allow the Pentagon to use its AI models on classified work for “any lawful government purpose.” The outlet attributed the revelation to a person familiar with the matter.
The move represents a sharp departure from Google’s decision in 2018 to pull out of the Pentagon’s Project Maven (formally known as the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team), following pressure from its employees over concerns about the deployment of AI for lethal purposes under the program.
Google Employees Warn of ‘Extremely Harmful’ AI Use
Reports of Google’s interest in joining OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI for classified military use of its AI systems have been swirling around for about two weeks now. This prompted Google employees to flag “extremely harmful” uses of AI systems, such as in lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance, in a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai, urging the chief executive to reject such a Pentagon arrangement.
The development follows Anthropic’s recent row with the Pentagon over allowing the defense department unfettered access to its AI systems for military purposes. The pushback earned the AI startup a designation as a national security supply chain risk — a designation it is now challenging in court.
Pentagon Expands Use of Google Models in Unclassified Work
Anthropic’s refusal casts a new spotlight on concerns about the use of AI models in military settings. However, a Google spokesperson told the outlet the company remains aligned with the consensus that AI must not be used for domestic mass surveillance or in autonomous weapons systems without appropriate human oversight.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon on Monday rolled out Google’s latest Gemini models on its unclassified generative AI platform, GenAI.mil. This follows a December 2025 deal with Google for such use cases.
Is Google Stock a Buy or Hold?
On Wall Street, analysts continue to rate Alphabet’s shares as a Strong Buy based on their consensus. This breaks down to 26 Buys and five Holds assigned by 31 analysts over the past three months.
In addition, the average GOOGL price target of $387.68 implies roughly 10% upside from current trading levels.
