60 U.K. Lawmakers Accuse Google of Breaking AI Safety Pledge

PauseAI organised an open letter from UK lawmakers and civil society organisations to Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind. PauseAI UK members emailed their MPs asking them to sign the letter.

Across-party group of 60 U.K. parliamentarians has accused Google DeepMind of violating international pledges to safely develop artificial intelligence, in an open letter shared exclusively with TIME ahead of publication. The letter, released on August 29 by activist group PauseAI U.K., says that Google’s March release of Gemini 2.5 Pro without accompanying details on safety testing “sets a dangerous precedent.” The letter, whose signatories include digital rights campaigner Baroness Beeban Kidron and former Defence Secretary Des Browne, calls on Google to clarify its commitment.

Time confirmed for the first time that Google DeepMind did not provide the UK AISI with pre-deployment access to their Gemini 2.5 Pro model.

After previously failing to address a media request for comment on whether it had shared Gemini 2.5 Pro with governments for safety testing, a Google DeepMind spokesperson told TIME that the company did share Gemini 2.5 Pro with the U.K. AI Security Institute, as well as a “diverse group of external experts,” including Apollo Research, Dreadnode, and Vaultis. However, Google says it only shared the model with the U.K. AI Security Institute after Gemini 2.5 Pro was released on March 25.

If you're interested in an precise, technical breakdown of exactly what the commitments were and how Google broke them (both in spirit and by the letter), see the background information document linked on the open letter page.