In the previous article, I provided a general introduction to how Israel used artificial intelligence in the Gaza genocide and how the US participated in this genocide, both at the governmental and corporate levels. Today, we will examine how Microsoft, one of the world’s largest companies, supported this genocide that has been going on for almost three years, and the period before and after October 7th.
The Microsoft you know on the street isn’t actually the Microsoft you know. Microsoft, a US-based multinational company, appears to be a company that provides IT and software services, but it has military collaborations that it tries to hide from the public. The most significant of these, and the one that undoubtedly caused the most loss of life, is its collaboration with Israeli forces. Microsoft and Israel have a long-standing relationship. In 1991, 16 years after its founding, Microsoft established its first research center outside the US. For many years, it provided technology services to the Israeli army. After October 7, it did not stop these services and continued them by making new agreements.
Despite all the genocidal activities and reactions, Microsoft signed a $10 million contract during this period. It is known that the company is considering signing another contract with a larger budget in the future. The contract provides cloud computing and storage services covering everything from combat operations and intelligence to cybersecurity and population registration used to monitor Palestinian movements, to multiple military units. It is also known that Microsoft employees are jointly developing artificial intelligence systems with Israel. Furthermore, following Microsoft’s agreements with OpenAI, it has been reported that OpenAI provided services such as data analysis and language translation to the Israeli army. Microsoft, which has been criticized and boycotted for all of this, continues to ignore this situation. These ongoing services facilitate the targeting of more civilians every day. Moreover, it does not only target the Gaza region or Palestinians but also targets hundreds of Palestinian supporters outside Gaza and many other people it sees as enemies. For example, through the collaboration between OpenAI and Microsoft, Israel has also carried out various attacks in Iran, Lebanon, and Yemen.
Although Microsoft announced in September that it had discovered evidence of mass surveillance of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank in a service it provided to Israel and therefore disabled this service, it is widely accepted that its activities to date have clearly violated international law.
Sedanur KARAKOÇ