The acts of the government being wrong in an upsetting amount of cases would be a big reason.

Because, we have pretty convincing historical precedent that 'just following orders' does not work as a defense when your government does something indefensible.

It’s not, but legal is not the same as ethical.

For a long time, and probably still, it was legal for the US to torture enemy combatants. It was never ethical.

What makes you think that Googles AI experts are US citizens?

working to directly advance a product used substantially to oppress people via surveillance or war crimes, when you have many other choices, is immoral. easy.

Besides all the questionable and illegal stuff that the current government does, a lot of people don’t want to work on technologies that kill people.

It’s not morally wrong per-se but just because you are working with your government does not mean what you’re doing is necessarily moral

Because the government is comprised of Nazis now and is waging wars of expansionist conquest abroad and murdering domestic dissidents at home. Anyone working toward enabling that deserves to be on the receiving end of the systems they build.

Weird, why is it morally right for anyone to work with immoral organizations? -- That's what's in the focus, right?

Whether the current government is immoral, or if government can be philosophically immoral is up to debate. But your question sounds like a deflection to me.

Because their current government is immoral.

Are you intentionally lumping in all civic service in one moral bucket? Is working at the post office morally equivalent to developing panopticon technology to suppress protest and track citizens?

Sorry to Godwin the thread but the Third Reich would like a word.

You're using a strawman. This was never about just being employed by a government in the most tepid and universal sense.

Ex: "Why is it morally wrong for a US citizen to work with their government?", asked the employee compiling lists of American citizens of Japanese descent to be rounded up into Internment Camps.

Idk about morality, but it’s certainly a way to stop dystopian mass surveillance nightmares if everyone capable of building one refuses.

So if you live in the US and don’t want one government agency in the US to have this power (that is ambiguous under current law), one way you can try to avoid it is by refusing to sell it to them and urging others to do the same.

It’s a long shot sure, but it certainly seems more effective than hoping the legislature wakes up and reigns in the executive these days.

Given most government policies and direct engagement in all kind of monstrosities over the last millennia, there is really no reason to limit the case to USA, indeed.

Because the current government is a vindictive, murderous, proto-fascist government. (But you know that already.)