Why is it morally wrong for a US citizen to work with their government?

Thankfully Russia, China, etc have the same qualms as we do in the United States and will refused to send their brightest engineers to work on weapons so they don't become "morally compromised"!!!

Also yesterday, on Brin getting cozy with this administration:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/27/us/politics/sergey-brin-g...

Why is it morally compromising to work with the military of the country you live in?

Why is it that this line items comes up EVERY TIME an article comes out in a knee jerk reaction - its so incredibly absolute:

"Any AI researcher who continues to work here is morally compromised."

It feels like a constant campaign and the posters seem so incredibly self righteous and unthoughtful.

That's what the 7 figure salaries are for.

Is every American tax payer morally compromised?

I agree that it is immoral to obey some laws. Which ones are you saying are immoral here?

Morality is relative and malleable. And usually people are quite good at claiming that whatever suits my agenda is moral.

Is it any less moral than surveilling your neighbors and/or turning your neighbors against each other with social media?

Any AI researcher who refuses to support his own country in a technological arms race is morally bankrupt, foolishly naive and does not deserve to enjoy the the way of life created for him by those who sacrificed their lives.

> Any AI researcher who continues to work here is morally compromised.

Arguably it's exactly the opposite. In the same way we ask billionaires to pay their taxes because the regulatory regime is what allowed them the structure to make their billions in the first place, the national security of the country the AI researchers are in is what allows them to make a vast salary to work on interesting, leading edge capabilities like AI. They should feel obligated to help the military.