Last month, we reported on Ibtihal Aboussad, the Microsoft software engineer who publicly confronted Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman during the company"s 50th anniversary event. The employee was later fired, alongside another protesting employee (Vaniya Agrawal). Their actions were part of growing internal dissent, particularly from the "No Azure for Apartheid" group, over Microsoft"s contracts with the Israeli military amid the conflict in Gaza. Now, Microsoft has come out with a statement, essentially saying it has looked into it and found nothing.
In a recent announcement, the company stated that following employee and public concerns, it conducted an internal review and hired an external firm for more fact finding.
Based on these reviews, including interviewing dozens of employees and assessing documents, we have found no evidence to date that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict in Gaza.
Microsoft confirmed its ongoing commercial relationship with the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD), providing software, Azure cloud services, and Azure AI services, including for language translation. The company insists this is a standard commercial relationship, bound by its terms of service, which prohibit using its tech to inflict harm. Microsoft also mentioned providing "limited emergency support to the Israeli government in the weeks following October 7, 2023, to help rescue hostages," claiming this was done with significant oversight.
However, the announcement includes a rather large caveat. Towards the end of its statement, the company pretty much admits it has no way of knowing what customers, including the IMOD, do with Microsoft software if it is run on their own servers or through other cloud providers.
It is important to acknowledge that Microsoft does not have visibility into how customers use our software on their own servers or other devices. This is typically the case for on premise software. Nor do we have visibility to the IMOD’s government cloud operations, which are supported through contracts with cloud providers other than Microsoft. By definition, our reviews do not cover these situations.
The company concluded its statement by reiterating a commitment to human rights and support for humanitarian assistance in both Israel and Gaza.