> I don't understand the desire to stay with a company and accept paychecks while simultaneously publicly denouncing and leading protests against them.
Because you don't want to see the thing you worked so hard to build misused to build killer robots and "war minds"? Seems reasonable to me. Google's got a different mission and sometimes the leadership forgets it, and needs to be reminded.
I don't think that objecting to your company's AI work for DoD or plans to comply with Chinese internet search regulations fall under any of them.
What did the "Open Research Group" at Google actually build?
"Protected concerted activity".
If you want a good primer, "Labor Law for the Rank and Filer" is a good one.
29 U.S.C. Sec. 157
Do you think that objecting to a business model or alleged risks thereof falls under the category of "mutual aid and protection" of other workers?