Google secretly cooperates with the Israeli military to accelerate the application of AI technology, causing controversy

Recently, there were reports that Google worked closely with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to provide artificial intelligence (AI) services after the conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out. This news comes from internal company documents obtained by The Washington Post, which reveal that Google Cloud employees directly responded to the Israeli military’s request for AI tools in the weeks after the conflict.

It is understood that after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, Google Cloud employees established contact with the Israel Defense Forces and emphasized in internal discussions the need to meet the military's needs as quickly as possible. The document mentioned that if Google does not respond quickly to Israel's request, the military may turn to rival Amazon for cloud computing services.

Additionally, documents show that Google employees continued to apply for more AI tools to the Israeli military months after the conflict. At the same time, Google insists in public that it has no direct cooperation with the Israeli military, saying that its contracts with Israel are mainly to provide services to civilian government departments. Anna Kowalczyk, Google Cloud's external communications manager, said in April 2024: "Our cooperation with Israel does not involve military or intelligence-related work."

However, attitudes within Google about these collaborations are inconsistent. On the one hand, employees expressed dissatisfaction with the company's involvement with the Israeli military and staged protests at offices in New York and California, leading to the firing of 28 participants and the arrest of some during the protests. This move aroused widespread public attention and controversy.