Alphabet guidelines no longer refer to not pursuing technologies that could ‘cause or are likely to cause overall harm’

The Google owner, Alphabet, has dropped its pledge not to use artificial intelligence for purposes such as developing weapons and surveillance tools.

The US technology company said on Tuesday, just before it reported lower than forecast earnings, that it had updated its ethical guidelines around AI, and they no longer refer to not pursuing technologies that could “cause or are likely to cause overall harm”.