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Microsoft says it provided AI to Israeli military for war but denies use to harm people in Gaza
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 17 May 2025
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"Ok, I mean, sure, we sold the Nazis punchcards, but seriously, what could they do with them?"
Should be required reading for anyone in tech. Bonus - great early history of punch cards and IBM.
Also: this article omits serious context about what the IDF does with the information Microsoft is describing!
Over a year ago, 972 wrote an explosive expose on IDF ai targeting. It's all pretty blunt. A general name Yossi Sariel wrote a book describing how AI could automate industrialized killing, and these plans were put into practice to deliberately target civilian infrastructure when entire families were sitting down to meals. The tools included Lavender, which composed target lists that pretty much included any male over 14 and Daddy's Home, which tracked targets generated by Lavender and generated strike plans when it determined that the target was at their home.
There's no good reason why the Independent left this out. A general literally wrote a book about this, and it's been a year since this information came out.
https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/
Once every few months I remember that there’s virtually no chance my name and information aren’t in these databases, especially now that my country has gone through a recent war phase. Even if I didn’t sign up to Instagram and Facebook when I was a teenager, my family, friends, and whole neighborhood use unscrupulous online services that can be used to map out communities like that. I live far from the border with Palestine but let’s not pretend that makes a difference.