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Google Enhances Israeli Military's AI Capabilities with Vertex and Gemini Under Nimbus Project

Jan 22, 2025, 09:28 AM

Google has been providing Israel's military with access to its advanced artificial intelligence technologies since the early weeks of the Israel-Hamas war, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. The tech giant's employees have worked to expedite requests from Israel's Defense Ministry for greater access to services like Google's Vertex platform, which enables the application of AI algorithms to client data. This collaboration has continued despite Google's public efforts to distance itself from Israel's military and security apparatus following employee protests over the company's cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. The documents reveal that Google's assistance included facilitating access to its Gemini AI technology for the Israeli military, which aimed to develop an AI assistant for processing documents and audio. This assistance was part of the broader $1.2 billion Nimbus project, signed in 2021, which also involves Amazon and aims to provide cloud services to the Israeli government, including its military. Additionally, the Israeli military has been using an internally developed AI tool called Habsora to identify targets in Gaza, and Google faced internal dissent, resulting in the firing of 50 employees who protested against the Nimbus contract. Gaby Portnoy, director of Israel's National Cyber Directorate, indicated that the Nimbus contract directly contributed to combat operations, stating, '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.'