Microsoft acknowledges supplying AI to Israeli military for Gaza conflict

17 May 2025 14:58

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Microsoft acknowledges supplying AI to Israeli military for Gaza conflict

Reuters

Microsoft has acknowledged providing artificial intelligence and cloud computing services to the Israeli military during the war in Gaza, supporting operations that included efforts to locate and rescue Israeli hostages.

However, the company said it had found no evidence to date that its Azure platform and AI technologies were used to target or harm people in the Gaza Strip, News.Az reports citing The Independent.

The blog post on Microsoft’s corporate website is unsigned.

It appears to be the company’s first public acknowledgement of its involvement in the war, which started after Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and has led to the deaths of tens of thousands in Gaza.

It comes nearly three months after an investigation revealed previously unreported details about the American tech giant’s close partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, with military use of commercial AI products skyrocketing by nearly 200 times after the deadly October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

The AP reported that the Israeli military uses Azure to transcribe, translate and process intelligence gathered through mass surveillance, which can then be cross-checked with Israel’s in-house AI-enabled targeting systems and vice versa.

The partnership reflects a growing drive by tech companies to sell their artificial intelligence products to militaries for a wide range of uses, including in Israel, Ukraine and the United States.

However, human rights groups have raised concerns that AI systems, which can be flawed and prone to errors, are being used to help make decisions about who or what to target, resulting in the deaths of innocent people.

Microsoft said that employee concerns and media reports had prompted the company to launch an internal review and hire an external firm to undertake “additional fact-finding”.

News.Az