Google's AI Tools Provided to Israel's Military Amid Ongoing Conflict

Google reportedly made sure Israel's military had access to its AI tools

Documents reveal anxiety Amazon would get ahead with the IDF. Google has been a much larger facilitator of tools to Israel during its war with Hamas than previously disclosed. A new report from The Washington Post found that Google employees have repeatedly worked with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel's Defense Ministry (IDM) to expand the government's access to AI tools. In 2021, Google entered into a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government, titled Nimbus, alongside Amazon. Internal documents show that Google employees repeatedly requested greater access to the company's AI technology on behalf of Israel -- starting shortly after the October 7 attacks. An employee in Google's cloud division reportedly escalated appeals from the IDM for greater access to Vertex. In one document, an employee allegedly warned the IDM could turn to Amazon instead, losing Google business. A November document then allegedly shows the employee thanking their co-worker for assisting with the request. Additional documents from 2024 reportedly show further requests which continued to as recently as November 2024, with an employee requesting the IDF receive access to Gemini AI technology in order to develop its own AI assistant. The request was for improved processing of audio and documents, but its unclear what earlier access pushes were used for in regards to military operations. The news sheds a fresh light on employees' protests over Google's cloud computing contract with Israel's government. Google employees have spoken out against the company's dealings with Israel since the contract began. However, the war brought renewed calls from its employees for Google to drop out of Nimbus. Instead, Google has fired over 50 employees for protesting the contract due to what it called "disruptive behavior." In mid-2024, over 100 Google employees -- made up of managers and members of its human rights group -- reportedly emailed the company to review the Nimbus contract, but Google ignored it.

Google has been providing Israel's military with advanced AI

Since the first few weeks of the Israel-Hamas war, the employees at Google have worked to provide Israel's military with access to its most advanced artificial intelligence. Google has been directly assisting the IDF and Israel's Defense Ministry, an exclusive Washington Post report revealed on Wednesday. Since the first few weeks of the Israel-Hamas war, the employees at Google have worked to provide Israel's military with access to its most advanced artificial intelligence, the report continues. This has happened contrary to Google's public efforts to separate itself from Israel's military and security bodies, following protests by its own employees over a cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. The Washington Post, citing documents it obtained, claimed that a Google employee in the cloud division expedited requests from Israel's Defense Ministry for increased access to Google AI. According to the report, Israel wished to quickly increase its use of Google's Vertex service, a machine learning platform that allows users to train and deploy ML models and AI. The incentive for expediting the request reportedly stemmed from fears that not providing urgent access to Vertex would push the IDF toward Google's cloud rival, Amazon. Amazon also works with Israel under the same Nimbus contract, a $4 billion endeavor to provide cloud services from an Israeli region. This ensures sovereignty and privacy of information in accordance with Israeli law. In 2024, Google fired 50 employees who had been protesting against the 'Nimbus' contract, believing the technology would be used by military forces to harm Palestinians. In 2021, Google and Amazon workers penned an open letter to The Guardian calling for the condemnation of "Project Nimbus." Additional AI access Several other documents from 2023 and 2024 revealed how Google employees requested additional AI access for the IDF. In November 2024, a Google employee pushed for the IDF to have access to Gemini AI technology, which allows users to develop an AI assistant to process documents and audio. Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now The documents obtained by the Washington Post did not show how Israel planned to use Google AI, however, Google has previously said that the provision of its Nimbus cloud services to Israel is "not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services." Nevertheless, Gaby Portnoy, director of Israel's National Cyber Directorate, indicated at a 2024 conference that the Nimbus contract was directly involved in combat applications. "Thanks to the Nimbus public cloud, phenomenal things are happening during the fighting, these things play a significant part in the victory -- I will not elaborate," he said, according to People and Computers, an Israeli outlet. Neither the IDF nor Google replied to the Washington Post's request for comment. AI usage in IDF Israel has been integrating AI into the military for several years, using the technology to process surveillance footage. A previous December 2024 investigation by the Washington Post found that the IDF uses an AI tool called Habsora to provide commanders with thousands of targets to strike, both human and infrastructure. According to the Washington Post, Habsora analyzes data, such as intercepted communications and satellite imagery, to generate coordinates for potential targets. The revelation led to fears that the AI was being used to endanger lives; however, the IDF disputed this in a statement in the paper at the time. "The more ability you have to compile pieces of information effectively, the more accurate the process is," the IDF said. "If anything, these tools have minimized collateral damage and raised the accuracy of the human-led process."

Google rushed to sell AI tools to Israel's military after Hamas attacks

The company fulfilled requests from Israel's military for more access to AI tools, as it sought to compete with Amazon, documents obtained by The Post show. SAN FRANCISCO -- Google employees have worked to provide Israel's military with access to the company's latest artificial intelligence technology from the early weeks of the Israel-Gaza war, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. The internal documents show Google directly assisting Israel's Ministry of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces, despite the company's efforts to publicly distance itself from the country's national security apparatus after employee protests against a cloud computing contract with Israel's government. Google fired more than 50 employees last year after they protested the contract, known as Nimbus, over fears it could see Google technology aid military and intelligence programs that have harmed Palestinians. In the weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Hamas militants, a Google employee in its cloud division escalated requests for increased access to the company's AI technology from Israel's Ministry of Defense, the documents obtained by The Post show. The documents, which detail projects inside Google's cloud division, indicate that the Israeli ministry urgently wanted to expand its use of a Google service called Vertex, which clients can use to apply AI algorithms to their own data. A Google employee warned in one document that if the company didn't quickly provide more access, the military would turn to Google's cloud rival Amazon instead, which also works with Israel's government under the Nimbus contract. Another document, from mid-November 2023, showed the employee thanking a co-worker for helping handle the Ministry of Defense request. The documents do not indicate exactly how the Ministry of Defense planned to use Google's AI technology, or how it might have contributed to military operations. Skip to end of carousel Middle East conflict In the second day of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel's military chief Herzi Halevi announced that he will resign in March. Here's what we know about the ceasefire deal and the hostages remaining in Gaza. End of carousel Other documents dated from the spring and summer of 2024 show Google employees requesting additional access to AI technology for the IDF. As recently as November 2024, by which time a year of Israeli airstrikes had turned much of Gaza to rubble, documents show Israel's military was still tapping Google for its latest AI technology. Late that month, an employee requested access to the company's Gemini AI technology for the IDF, which wanted to develop its own AI assistant to process documents and audio, according to the documents. Spokespeople for the IDF, Google and Amazon all declined to comment for this article. Google has previously said that the Nimbus contract with Israel's government is "not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services." The documents obtained by The Post do not indicate how Israel's military used Google's AI capabilities, which can have use cases such as automating administrative tasks far from the front lines. Gaby Portnoy, Director General of the Israeli government's National Cyber Directorate, suggested at a conference early last year that the Nimbus contract directly aided combat applications, according to an article from Israeli media outlet People and Computers, which hosted the conference. "Thanks to the Nimbus public cloud, phenomenal things are happening during the fighting, these things play a significant part in the victory -- I will not elaborate," he said. Israel's military has for years been building up its AI capabilities to speed up processing of surveillance imagery and selection of potential military targets. After the IDF began its assault on Gaza after the Oct. 7 attacks, it turned to an AI tool called Habsora developed internally to provide commanders with thousands of human and infrastructure targets to bomb, contributing to the violence in Gaza, according to a previous investigation by The Post. Habsora is built on top of hundreds of different algorithms that analyze data such as intercepted communications and satellite imagery to generate coordinates of potential military targets such as rockets or tunnels. But some Israeli commanders have raised concerns about the technology's accuracy, The Post reported. Others worried too much trust was being placed in the technology's recommendations, eroding the quality of Israeli intelligence analysis. It is unclear whether the Habsora project or its development involved use of commercial cloud computing services. A senior IDF official told The Post in an interview last summer that the military had invested heavily in new cloud technologies, hardware, and other back end computing systems, often in partnership with U.S. companies. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security topics. The IDF has also tested technology from multiple companies as it explored potential applications for generative AI, the technology behind the recent flourishing of chatbots and other AI tools, the official said. That included using it to scan audio, video and text from IDF systems as part of an audit of the military's operations leading into the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Google has been a major contractor to Israel's government since 2021, when it was selected by Israeli officials, along with Amazon, for the multibillion dollar Nimbus cloud computing contract aimed at making sweeping upgrades to Israeli government technology. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Post. The deal saw the rival companies build new data centers in Israel and agree to provide cloud software and storage to government departments. At the time, Israeli officials told local media that the deal would include working with the Israeli military. Nimbus has faced protests from some Google and Amazon employees, who say their companies shouldn't do business with Israel's government because of its treatment of Palestinians. The loudest protests have come from Google workers who are concerned that the contract might allow its AI technology to be enlisted by Israeli military and intelligence agencies that regularly violate human rights in Gaza and the West Bank. When Google acquired British AI start-up DeepMind in 2014, the terms of the acquisition stipulated that DeepMind technology would never be used for military or surveillance purposes, the lab's founder Demis Hassabis said in a 2015 interview. Today, Hassabis is one of the company's most powerful executives and leads all its AI development work under the brand of Google DeepMind, a portfolio that includes image, video and voice technologies and its generative AI assistant Gemini. Google has AI policies that pledge the company not to apply the technology to use cases that harm people. Its human rights program says the company reviews its products and policies for compliance with international standards like the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and invites employees to raise any concerns they have about the company's work. Last summer, a group of over 100 employees emailed Google managers and members of the company's human rights team asking them to review the company's work with the Israeli military, according to a Google employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their job. The requests were ignored, the employee said. Elizabeth Dwoskin and Alisa Shodiyev Kaff contributed to this report.

Google reportedly worked directly with Israel's military on AI tools

Weeks after the war began, an employee with Google's cloud division escalated the IDF's military's requests for access to Google's AI technology, according to the Post. In another document, an employee warned that Google needed to quickly respond to the military's requests, or else Israel would turn to Amazon for its cloud computing needs. In a November 2023 document, an employee thanks a coworker for handling the IDF's request. Months later, employees requested additional access to AI tools for the IDF.