Management has lost all moral compass”: Android’s head of security walks out on Google Military AI, surveillance of Europeans, ethical principles cast aside: why he walked away

By Aymeric Geoffre-Rouland Published on 06/12/26 at 3:33 p.m.

René Mayrhofer has been protecting the security of your Android smartphone for nine years. He has just resigned from Google for a reason that directly concerns you: the company has signed an agreement authorizing the Pentagon to use its AI for classified operations, and the man who secured your smartphone believes these tools will “likely be used against” European citizens. “Management has lost its moral compass”: Android’s head of security slams the door on Google

He is the man who protected the security of your Android phone. René Mayrhofer left Google after nine years, in a resignation letter published on his blog titled “Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass.

”The trigger: a contract signed in late April between Google and the U.S. Department of Defense authorizing the Pentagon to use the company’s AI models for classified work, including military operations planning and intelligence.

“My decision has become inevitable,” Mayrhofer writes. “I am a pacifist. Actively contributing to harming human beings is not something I can or will condone.”

From the 2018 open letter to the 2026 resignation

Mayrhofer’s career at Google has mirrored the company’s ethical principles. In 2018, following the internal revolt against Project Maven (a drone image analysis program for the Pentagon), Google had published clear commitments: no AI for weapons, no AI for surveillance. Mayrhofer had signed the employee petition that year. Google subsequently withdrew from the contract.

This deal implies that Google products will likely be used directly against me and my loved ones. In this context, I don’t see how I could not resign.

• René Mayrhofer, Director of Android Platform Security (in his resignation letter)

Seven years later, the shift is complete. In February 2025, Google quietly removed from its AI principles the section listing prohibited uses: weapons, surveillance, and technologies likely to cause harm.

The change, announced by Demis Hassabis (CEO of DeepMind) and James Manyika, was not communicated internally, according to Mayrhofer. “None of this is discussed or communicated within the company. Decisions are made at the top, period.” But you can still find the PDF here, on the Wayback Machine.

A European academic speaks out against a loophole-ridden clause

Mayrhofer is not just a Silicon Valley executive. As a full professor at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, he views the Google-Pentagon contract through a European lens. What alarms him is that the agreement authorizes the U.S. military to use Google’s AI for “any lawful purpose,” with no restrictions on scope. In other words, the only limit is what the U.S. government itself considers lawful.

However, according to Mayrhofer, this administration “has already violated international law on several occasions.” He cites a warning from KU Leuven University in Belgium, which advised its staff against collaborating with U.S. institutions. His fear is that this elastic definition could encompass the surveillance of European citizens.

In 2018, Google committed to never using AI for weapons or surveillance (page 4 of the original AI principles). In February 2025, this section was entirely removed. © Screenshot taken from the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), version dated January 30, 2025, five days before Google removed this section

He is not alone. In April, Andreas Kirsch, a researcher at Google DeepMind, told Business Insider that he was “incredibly ashamed” of Google’s decision. But Mayrhofer is the most senior executive to have taken this step publicly.

“I am aware that, as a tenured academic in the EU, I am quite privileged. Many others do not have this freedom,” he acknowledges. His notice period runs through August. He announced that he would immediately step away from any work on AI systems that might fall under the military agreement. “I desperately hope that Google’s leadership will rediscover its moral compass,” he concludes.