Microsoft sold advanced artificial intelligence and cloud computing capabilities to the Israeli military, the company has acknowledged.
Microsoft said the additional capabilities were “limited emergency support” provided to “help rescue hostages.”
The move came in the immediate aftermath of an attack on Israel by roughly 6,000 people affiliated with the Hamas terrorist organization and other like-minded factions who killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 more in a surprise attack.
“We provided this help with significant oversight and on a limited basis, including approval of some requests and denial of others,” Microsoft said.
“We believe the company followed its principles on a considered and careful basis, to help save the lives of hostages while also honoring the privacy and other rights of civilians in Gaza.”
The company also said that it provided the Israeli military with software, professional services, Azure AI services, and associated cloud storage on a variety of fronts, including cybersecurity and language translation.
Acknowledgement of the services comes as American tech companies are expanding their contracts with militaries the world over. In addition to Microsoft, the Israeli military maintains contracts for cloud or AI services with Amazon, Google, and Palantir, as well as smaller companies.
That symbiosis is now drawing concerns from human rights organizations and advocacy groups, who have raised concerns that commercial AI services could be facilitating the killing of civilians in the conflict.
For example, the pro-Palestinian advocacy group No Azure for Apartheid, which is composed of current and former Microsoft employees, has accused Microsoft of enabling the targeting of civilians in Gaza and complicity in what the group has described as a genocide.
In response, Microsoft said that it had conducted an internal review and contracted another firm to undertake a fact-finding mission regarding the potential use of its tools against civilians in Gaza.
Microsoft did not release the full report, but said that it found no evidence that its products and services were implicated in civilian casualties in Gaza.
“Based on these reviews, including interviewing dozens of employees and assessing documents, we have found no evidence to date that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict in Gaza,” the company said.
Microsoft added that, while it did not have access to the Israeli military’s inner workings, the organization was bound to follow the company’s Acceptable Use Policy and AI Code of Conduct like any other customer.
Those documents prohibit the use of products to inflict harm in any way prohibited by law. In its statement, the company said it had found “no evidence” that the Israeli military had violated those terms.
“Our commitment to human rights guides how we engage in complex environments and how our technology is used. We share the profound concern over the loss of civilian life in both Israel and Gaza and have supported humanitarian assistance in both places,” the company said.
