SAN FRANCISCO – Google workers Friday got word that the internet titan will retreat from a deal to help the U.S. military use artificial intelligence to analyze drone video, according to reports. The collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense was said to have sparked rebellion inside the California-based company. An internal petition calling for Google to stay out of "the business of war" garnered thousands of signatures, and some workers reportedly quit to protest a collaboration with the military. The New York Times and the tech news website Gizmodo cited unnamed sources as saying a Google's cloud team executive told employees on Friday that the company will not seek to renew the controversial contract after it expires next year. The contract was reported to be worth less than $10 million to Google but was thought to have potential to lead to more lucrative technology collaborations with the military.

About a dozen Google employees reportedly left the company over its insistence on developing AI for the US military through a program called Project Maven. Meanwhile 4,000 others signed a petition demanding the company stop. It looks like there's some internal confusion over whether the company's "Don't Be Evil" motto covers making machine learning systems to aid warfare. It's happening, Join 15k digital minds to shape what's next for your business If you believe that: We've got a bridge to sell you. But more to the point, the petition that's floating around (with more than 4,000 signatures) addresses the company's leaders' assertion that it's doing nothing wrong: Recently, Googlers voiced concerns about Maven internally.