Google dropped a pledge not to use artificial intelligence for weapons and surveillance systems on Tuesday. And it’s just the latest sign that Big Tech is no longer concerned with the potential blowback that can come when consumer-facing tech companies get big, lucrative contracts to develop police surveillance tools and weapons of war.

The firm has rewritten the principles guiding its use of AI, dropping a section which ruled out uses that were "likely to cause harm". In a blog post Google senior vice president James Manyika, and Demis Hassabis,