Google Vertex AI: ethical AI ratings, privacy & sources

Energy

Google Cloud Carbon Footprint now includes Vertex AI and allocates customer emissions by product, project, and region at monthly granularity; its 2026 release notes describe model-inference emissions being assigned to cloud services, especially Vertex AI. This is more actionable than a corporate renewable claim, but the allocation is estimated, not third-party assured, and is not a per-request measurement.

Reasoning & sources

Customer- and region-specific estimates cover Vertex AI and include inference allocation, but remain monthly, method-allocated estimates without third-party assurance or per-request energy/water values. For a deployment, request or export the selected service and region’s usage-linked footprint when available; do not treat company-wide renewable matching as per-request impact.

Customer- and region-specific estimates cover Vertex AI and include inference allocation, but remain monthly, method-allocated estimates without third-party assurance or per-request energy/water values.

The customer report is monthly and allocation-based; water and per-request usage are not reported as direct model metrics, some grid data rely on annual country averages, and Google says its customer-specific report is not third-party assured.

Training rights

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Vertex AI terms state Google will not use customer data to train or fine-tune AI/ML models without prior permission or instruction. That is a hosting/data-use commitment and does not establish training-data rights for Google or third-party models.

Reasoning & sources

Vertex AI terms state Google will not use customer data to train or fine-tune AI/ML models without prior permission or instruction. That is a hosting/data-use commitment and does not establish training-data rights for Google or third-party models. Select the model first and review its license plus corpus-provenance disclosures; prompt no-training terms do not clear the model’s original dataset.

Training-corpus provenance/consent remains model-specific and not resolved by the host commitment.

Vertex AI and zero data retention ↗

Privacy

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Google’s Vertex AI documentation describes training restriction and privacy commitments; zero-retention eligibility is feature-specific and managed-model behavior may differ for safety or stateful features.

Reasoning & sources

Google states customer data is not used to train without permission and offers zero-retention paths, but eligibility and stateful/safety feature behavior vary. Check the exact API/web surface, plan, region, retention setting, routing, and stateful features in the applicable terms before sending sensitive content.

Google states customer data is not used to train without permission and offers zero-retention paths, but eligibility and stateful/safety feature behavior vary.

Exact endpoint/model, enabled feature, region, and retention configuration need verification.

Vertex AI and zero data retention ↗

Openness

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Vertex offers some open models and deployment choices, but the service stack is managed and Gemini remains closed; portability depends on the model and license.

Reasoning & sources

Open-model choices and some deployment control help; managed infrastructure and closed first-party models limit portability. Check whether the chosen model’s weights and license permit inspection or relocation, and whether the serving runtime moves too; API compatibility alone is not an open stack.

Open-model choices and some deployment control help; managed infrastructure and closed first-party models limit portability.

Access to an open model in a managed catalog does not make all Vertex models open or establish training-data provenance.

Overview of Model Garden ↗

Worker treatment

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Google’s supplier code applies labor and human-rights requirements across direct, temporary, migrant, contract, and subcontracted workers; it allows audits, requires remediation, and sets a 60-hour weekly limit with stated exceptions. This is a supplier policy, not an audit of AI data workers.

Reasoning & sources

Google publishes broad supplier protections and audit rights, but this review found no worker-level results for AI data work. Ask for current vendor-level pay, exposure, location, audit, and remediation records; a supplier code cannot substitute for worker outcomes.

Google publishes broad supplier protections and audit rights, but this review found no worker-level results for AI data work.

No current AI-annotation-specific outcomes, public audit findings, or remediation data for Vertex-related data work were established.

Google Supplier Code of Conduct ↗

Government & military

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Google documents access for Department of War personnel and classified defense workflows. Separately, Israel’s procurement administration identifies Google as a Nimbus public-cloud provider; AFSC and Who Profits describe military/security use, while the Guardian reports contract terms limiting service withdrawal. These sources do not establish Google’s role in a particular attack.

Reasoning & sources

Google documents U.S. Department of War and classified workflows. Israel’s procurement record identifies Google as a Project Nimbus provider; AFSC and Who Profits describe military/security use, while the Guardian reports contract terms limiting service withdrawal. These records establish relationships and reported use, not Google’s role in a particular operation; request the applicable contract, endpoint scope, and enforceable controls.

Google documents U.S. Department of War and classified defense workflows; Israel’s procurement record identifies Google as a Nimbus cloud provider, and independent research/reporting describes military or security use and limits on withdrawal. The reviewed evidence does not attribute a specific harmful operation to Google.

The source does not disclose contract terms or evaluate downstream deployment outcomes.

BDS status

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Google / Alphabet is named as a pressure target in the BNC’s official campaign sources. The product is developed or supplied by Google / Alphabet.

Reasoning & sources

If following this BNC campaign is a requirement, consider alternatives to paid Google / Alphabet products where practical. Your selected model, cloud and billing route can introduce other companies into the purchase. This label follows the named company’s campaign status; it does not claim that BDS separately reviewed this exact product.

This review covers the named targets in the BNC consumer/pressure guide and No Tech campaign, not every BDS campaign, local group, investment or supplier. Lists and ownership can change. A company’s absence from these lists is not an endorsement or proof that it has no relevant relationships.

Israel’s procurement administration says Google was selected with AWS for Nimbus public-cloud services and lists the Ministry of Defense and IDF among project partners. The Guardian’s investigation of leaked agreement documents reports that Nimbus terms limited Google’s ability to suspend service, including after alleged policy violations. Who Profits and AFSC describe cloud and AI use by military/security bodies, including surveillance-related capabilities; these are attributed research claims, not proof of Google’s role in a specific attack. Both companies denied circumventing legal obligations in response to the Guardian investigation.

The government record establishes the contract and project participants; the investigative reporting describes contract controls, and research organizations make broader use claims. The reviewed evidence does not establish Google’s contribution to a particular operation, injury, or other specific harm.