--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: People in my organization were very…" description: "\"People in my organization were very outspoken about what we should be doing with the Department of Defense. One of them is work on autonomous weapons. ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/295/jeff-dean-10577_autonomous_people-in-my-organization-were-very-outs_93903.jpg" --- # People in my organization were very outspoken about what… ![“People in my organization were very outspoken about what we should be doing with the Department of Defense. One of them is work on autonomous weapons. That, to me, is something I don't want to work on or have anything to do with.” quote by Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/295/jeff-dean-10577_autonomous_people-in-my-organization-were-very-outs_93903.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/295/jeff-dean-10577_autonomous_people-in-my-organization-were-very-outs_93903.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/295/jeff-dean-10577_autonomous_people-in-my-organization-were-very-outs_93903.jpg) > “People in my organization were very outspoken about what we should be doing with the Department of Defense. One of them is work on autonomous weapons. That, to me, is something I don't want to work on or have anything to do with.” [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker refuses to engage in developing autonomous weapons, indicating a moral boundary regarding military AI applications. **In simple terms:** Ethical stance on AI in warfare Key Takeaway Rejecting work that conflicts with personal values Themes ethics military AI personal boundaries responsibility Mood determined concerned Type personal statement ethical reflection When to use this quote - career decision making - team discussions about project direction Key Concepts autonomous weapons defense contracts Practical Applications - choosing projects aligned with ethics - advocating for alternative research areas Questions to Reflect On - What principles guide your project choices? - How do you handle peer pressure in ethical dilemmas? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Autonomous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autonomous/) [Organization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organization/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/) ## Related quotes > [There are many valid concerns about AI, from its impact on jobs to its uses in autonomous weapons systems and even to the potential…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oren-etzioni/there-are-many-valid-concerns-about-ai-from-its-impact-on-jobs-to-its/) [Oren Etzioni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oren-etzioni/) > [We know that good defense is something we have to work on, and it's something that we have to get better at.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauri-markkanen/we-know-that-good-defense-is-something-we-have-to-work-on-and-it-s/) [Lauri Markkanen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauri-markkanen/) > [Mississippi is home to a significant level of national defense work, such as shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing, and critical research.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-hyde-smith/mississippi-is-home-to-a-significant-level-of-national-defense-work/) [Cindy Hyde-Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-hyde-smith/) > [If the ongoing struggles waged by young people are to matter, demonstrations and protests must give way to more sustainable organizations that develop alternative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/if-the-ongoing-struggles-waged-by-young-people-are-to-matter/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [The Department of Defense is a longtime partner of the Department of Homeland Security, and I thank them for their support.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirstjen-nielsen/the-department-of-defense-is-a-longtime-partner-of-the-department-of/) [Kirstjen Nielsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirstjen-nielsen/) > [“The Department of Defense is the largest, most complex organization on the planet: three million people, civilian and military, with a budget, the last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/the-department-of-defense-is-the-largest-most-complex-organization-on/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [I want a strong military. But I do not believe, among other things, that without an audit, we should be throwing tens of billions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/i-want-a-strong-military-but-i-do-not-believe-among-other-things-that/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [Surely the Department of Defense can and needs to do a better job of training new and existing first responders to respond to sexual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-slaughter/surely-the-department-of-defense-can-and-needs-to-do-a-better-job-of/) [Louise Slaughter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-slaughter/) > [In addition, we will improve the Department of Defense's cyber capabilities. A new threat, a new problem, very expensive, and we're not doing very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/in-addition-we-will-improve-the-department-of-defense-s-cyber/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [As the name of the agency suggests, 'Department of Defense,' the defense refers to the United States of America - not the defense of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-coulter/as-the-name-of-the-agency-suggests-department-of-defense-the-defense/) [Ann Coulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-coulter/) > [“The Department of Defense is structured to plan and prepare for war but not to fight one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/the-department-of-defense-is-structured-to-plan-and-prepare-for-war/) [Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/) > [The biggest challenge is clearly China, in the years 2035 and beyond. I mean, the size of the country, its economy, and everything -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-esper/the-biggest-challenge-is-clearly-china-in-the-years-2035-and-beyond-i/) [Mark Esper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-esper/) > [The job of the Department of Defense is to keep America safe from our enemies. But we can't do that if some of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-austin/the-job-of-the-department-of-defense-is-to-keep-america-safe-from-our/) [Lloyd Austin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-austin/) > [ “military chaplains. According to Crews: “\[The Obama administration\] has created an environment in the Department of Defense that if you are in” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-g-brown/military-chaplains-according-to-crews-the-obama-administration-has/) [Floyd G Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-g-brown/) > [Nonetheless, the research budgets of the Department of Defense are under enormous stress-and they are extremely important because they support more than 40 percent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/nonetheless-the-research-budgets-of-the-department-of-defense-are/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Jeff Dean > [Vision I think is going to be an important input. Like, if you're using Google Glass, it's going to be able to look around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/vision-i-think-is-going-to-be-an-important-input-like-if-you-re-using/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [We have a lot of work to do to get really important useful capabilities into people's hands - self-driving cars are going to save…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/we-have-a-lot-of-work-to-do-to-get-really-important-useful/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [I think really what cloud customers care about is, can they get their problem solved on any particular provider's cloud products?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/i-think-really-what-cloud-customers-care-about-is-can-they-get-their/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [Machine learning is a new way of creating problem solving.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/machine-learning-is-a-new-way-of-creating-problem-solving/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [I think there are sometimes issues with - no matter where you put a conference, there's always going to be constraints on that. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/i-think-there-are-sometimes-issues-with-no-matter-where-you-put-a/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [The things that I really enjoy doing are finding interesting problems and working together with colleagues to figure out how we can solve them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/the-things-that-i-really-enjoy-doing-are-finding-interesting-problems/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [The idea behind reinforcement learning is you don't necessarily know the actions you might take, so you explore the sequence of actions you should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/the-idea-behind-reinforcement-learning-is-you-don-t-necessarily-know/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [I tend to be very impatient, thinking about all the ways we can do something, my mind and hands spinning at a very fast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/i-tend-to-be-very-impatient-thinking-about-all-the-ways-we-can-do/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [It's important to engage with governments around the world in how they're thinking about AI - to help inform them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/it-s-important-to-engage-with-governments-around-the-world-in-how/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [Supervised learning works so well when you have the right data set, but ultimately unsupervised learning is going to be a really important component…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/supervised-learning-works-so-well-when-you-have-the-right-data-set/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [I like working in small teams where people on the team have very different skills than what I have and that banter back and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/i-like-working-in-small-teams-where-people-on-the-team-have-very/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [It would be great to have every engineer have at least some amount of knowledge of machine learning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/it-would-be-great-to-have-every-engineer-have-at-least-some-amount-of/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [In a lot of these areas, from machine translation to search quality, you're always trying to balance what you can do computationally with each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/in-a-lot-of-these-areas-from-machine-translation-to-search-quality/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [Microsoft is in a lot of the same businesses that Google is in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/microsoft-is-in-a-lot-of-the-same-businesses-that-google-is-in/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) > [I am concerned in general about carbon emissions and machine learning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-dean/i-am-concerned-in-general-about-carbon-emissions-and-machine-learning/) [Jeff Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) [Explore all 64 Jeff Dean quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-dean/) ## More Autonomous quotes > [While much of modern behavioral and social science treats individuals as autonomous agents, it is absolutely clear that the way we think and act…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-r-nelson/while-much-of-modern-behavioral-and-social-science-treats-individuals/) Richard R. Nelson > [Autonomous vehicles, because they'll be able to operate at a lower cost, will be able to pull more consumers into the Lyft network. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-zimmer/autonomous-vehicles-because-they-ll-be-able-to-operate-at-a-lower/) [John Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-zimmer/) > [Melbourne, where I grew up, is one of the street art capitals of the world. Something about discovering freshly painted walls always fills me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penelope-mitchell/melbourne-where-i-grew-up-is-one-of-the-street-art-capitals-of-the/) [Penelope Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penelope-mitchell/) > [“Last Wednesday Vince Cable, the UK business secretary, invited British cities to express their interest in being used as testing grounds for driverless cars.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/last-wednesday-vince-cable-the-uk-business-secretary-invited-british/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Before a leader can be accepted, let alone succeed, autonomous professionals must agree to be influenced by that person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-maister/before-a-leader-can-be-accepted-let-alone-succeed-autonomous/) [David Maister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-maister/) > [The challenge in scoring a sequel is, how do you not get bored? The only way around that one is to go, "Okay, let's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-zimmer/the-challenge-in-scoring-a-sequel-is-how-do-you-not-get-bored-the/) [Hans Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-zimmer/) > [“Autonomous people assert themselves against the status quo. They don't accept the prevailing opinion just because it's the one given to them. Nothing creative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-brito/autonomous-people-assert-themselves-against-the-status-quo-they-don-t/) Maria Brito > [My personal fascination with the power of the crowd has been growing: Exactly what can a 'crowd' accomplish? We know crowds can raise billions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-diamandis/my-personal-fascination-with-the-power-of-the-crowd-has-been-growing/) [Peter Diamandis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-diamandis/) > [The autonomous car is definitely coming, and when that stage comes, this ride-share business becomes even more important.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masayoshi-son/the-autonomous-car-is-definitely-coming-and-when-that-stage-comes/) [Masayoshi Son](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masayoshi-son/) > [A song has a life of its own. It's an autonomous thing, separate from your own experience, almost. And the mere repetition of it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-vincent/a-song-has-a-life-of-its-own-it-s-an-autonomous-thing-separate-from/) [St. Vincent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-vincent/) > [We only want autonomous collaborators that are incentivized to make or break their own income.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/we-only-want-autonomous-collaborators-that-are-incentivized-to-make/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [We don't know what the trajectory of autonomous or linked vehicles will be, and we don't have a clear understanding on what that means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-wheeler/we-don-t-know-what-the-trajectory-of-autonomous-or-linked-vehicles/) [Ted Wheeler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-wheeler/) > [If the ongoing struggles waged by young people are to matter, demonstrations and protests must give way to more sustainable organizations that develop alternative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/if-the-ongoing-struggles-waged-by-young-people-are-to-matter/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [The modern world needs people with a complex identity who are intellectually autonomous and prepared to cope with uncertainty; who are able to tolerate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-j-havighurst/the-modern-world-needs-people-with-a-complex-identity-who-are/) [Robert J. Havighurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-j-havighurst/) > [Most people will be primarily getting into autonomous vehicles if we look 20, 30 years out. If we mandate that autonomous vehicles have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-garcetti/most-people-will-be-primarily-getting-into-autonomous-vehicles-if-we/) [Eric Garcetti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-garcetti/) [Browse all 187 Autonomous quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autonomous/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "People in my organization were very outspoken about what we should be doing with the Department of Defense. One of them is work on autonomous weapons. 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