Recently, the Washington Post reported that Google worked closely with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to provide artificial intelligence services after the conflict with Hamas. The news, which stems from internal Google documents, revealed that Google Cloud employees responded directly to the Israeli military's need for AI tools and emphasized the importance of responding quickly to avoid the military turning to rival Amazon. The move sparked widespread controversy, with employees within Google also expressing strong dissatisfaction.
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.
Highlight:
Google was revealed to be cooperating directly with the Israeli military to provide AI technology services.
Internal documents show employees warned the military could turn to Amazon if it didn't respond quickly.
Google insists its contracts with Israel are limited to civilian government agencies and denies military cooperation.
The incident of Google cooperating with the Israel Defense Forces to provide AI services highlights the ethical dilemmas and public opinion pressure faced by technology companies in international conflicts. The contradiction between Google's response and the content of internal documents has further intensified public doubts about its transparency and social responsibility, and has also triggered extensive discussions about the ethics of AI technology application.