Microsoft has served the Middle East since it began operations in the region in 1991. Since then, we’ve steadily expanded our presence and investments, growing from a local technology provider into a long-term partner to governments, businesses, educational institutions, and civil society organizations. Today, Microsoft is reaffirming that commitment through a new framework focused initially on Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.  

We are expanding our investments in the Middle East with confidence in the region’s future as it pursues one of the world’s most ambitious AI transformations. We will add to our local partnerships across the region. We will build on the work we have done to stand by these countries’ governments and people through a period of significant challenges. As we look to the future, we will invest further in technology, digital resilience, and the people across the region.   

From now until 2030, we will pursue the following initiatives with our partners in the region:  

Technology

We will expand cloud and AI infrastructure across the Middle East 

Microsoft will continue to invest in cloud and AI infrastructure across the region, expanding capacity, launching new capabilities, and delivering long-term infrastructure commitments. We plan to invest more than $10 billion in capital and operating expenses between now and 2030 in the region.  

We will deepen our partnerships through national AI champions 

Microsoft will deepen strategic partnerships with governments and national AI champion organizations to translate AI ambition into economic growth, modern public services, and global competitiveness. This builds on work with organizations including HUMAIN, G42, QAI, and the Government of Kuwait, alongside digital-government initiatives such as TAMM in the UAE, SDAIA’s ALLaM in Saudi Arabia, TASMU in Qatar, and Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption across the Government of Kuwait. 

These partnerships will support responsible AI adoption, sovereign-ready cloud services, Arabic and multilingual AI, and the use of AI to improve services for citizens and businesses. They will be supported by capabilities including Microsoft Sovereign Public Cloud, Sovereign Private Cloud, and Project Digital Shield, where relevant and available. 

We will invest in subsea and terrestrial connectivity 

Digital resilience depends on strong and reliable networks. Protecting subsea and terrestrial connectivity requires sustained cooperation between governments and the private sector, but the foundation of continuity is redundancy.  A diverse network of high-capacity routes allows traffic to be rerouted around disruptions, minimizing latency and maintaining critical data flows.  

Microsoft has helped expand both the capacity and reliability of digital connectivity across regions through investments in major international subsea cable systems, including SeaMeWe-6, which has landings in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as operating a global network spanning more than 275,000 miles of terrestrial and subsea fiber. During network disruptions, Microsoft has demonstrated the value of redundancy by rerouting traffic through Middle East corridors and maintaining service continuity with minimal impact on customers.  

Building on this foundation, Microsoft plans to invest more than $400 million in subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030. This investment will expand capacity, strengthen regional data flows, and support Microsoft’s growing cloud and AI infrastructure footprint across the region.  

We will build AI infrastructure with the planet in mind

As we expand our cloud and AI infrastructure in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, we will do so with a focus on responsible growth. Guided by Microsoft’s global goals to address carbon, water, waste, and ecosystems, we will work with our lessor partners to ensure that the cloud infrastructure supporting our services advances Microsoft’s water-positive ambitions, including by prioritizing zero-water cooling technologies where feasible. 

Water resilience is particularly important across the Middle East. Building on Microsoft’s global experience advancing water stewardship through water reuse, replenishment, and innovative water management solutions, we will work with governments and local stakeholders to identify opportunities that advance responsible water stewardship across the region. 

As AI accelerates economic opportunity across the Middle East, expanding access to clean energy will be essential to ensuring this growth is sustainable. We will also collaborate with regulators, utilities, and our lessor partners to help create the market conditions needed to expand carbon-free electricity procurement and stimulate new clean energy investment. By combining infrastructure investment with local partnerships and innovation, we aim to support the region’s energy and water priorities while helping build the sustainable foundations needed for long-term AI-led economic growth. 

Digital resilience

We will launch a new Middle East digital resilience initiative 

Conflict in the Middle East has reinforced the connection between digital resilience and digital sovereignty. Microsoft has worked with customers to support business continuity through resilience options tailored to different operational and regulatory needs. Going forward, Microsoft will make digital resilience a cornerstone of its Middle East strategy, helping organizations strengthen continuity and recovery through digital resilience assessments, reference architectures, readiness guidance, continuity planning, and enablement programs that help identify vulnerabilities, protect critical data, and build tested recovery capabilities.  

We will strengthen data protection, privacy, and business continuity 

Microsoft will expand our existing commitments on data-protection sovereignty and business continuity to eligible governments and customers in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. These are designed to give organizations greater confidence in how their data, systems, and operations are protected while maintaining continuity in times of uncertainty. They will be complemented by Microsoft’s growing sovereign-cloud portfolio, including Sovereign Public Cloud and Sovereign Private Cloud capabilities, together with Project Digital Shield and other capabilities that support security, privacy, transparency, and operational resilience. 

 We will expand and strengthen cybersecurity cooperation 

As Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE accelerate their digital transformation, cybersecurity has become a core pillar of national and economic security. As governments, critical infrastructure, and economies become more connected, cyber threats and influence operations can have consequences that extend far beyond physical borders.  That’s why we are announcing that we are deepening our partnerships with the cybersecurity authorities in these countries.  

A network of dedicated Microsoft cybersecurity champions in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE will help governments translate these resources into action and connect national priorities with expertise across Microsoft. Stronger cybersecurity benefits far more than individual networks. It helps build trust to ensure digital transformation will succeed.  

We will advance responsible AI through governance, assurance, and inclusion 

Microsoft will work with governments, businesses, researchers, and civil society organizations across the Middle East to help people and institutions benefit from new technology. As AI advances, realizing its full potential will require not only access to powerful technology, but the governance, assurance, and skills required to deploy it confidently and responsibly.  

We will help strengthen AI governance capabilities across the region and support practical approaches to testing, evaluating, and assurance systems. We will also expand collaboration with the Responsible AI Future Foundation (RAIFF), co-founded with G42 and the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), to support the development and sharing of responsible AI practices and evaluation tools that can be applied across high-impact AI use cases in the Middle East and beyond.  

By helping organizations align with emerging international practices, we aim to strengthen confidence in AI systems, support responsible innovation, enhance global competitiveness, and ensure that the Middle East plays an active role in shaping the future of AI. 

We will advance AI for Good research and innovation 

Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab will continue to support the region through research and partnerships focused on food security, low-resource language development, and climate and disaster resilience. This includes work through initiatives such as the LINGUA program, which supports the development of language technologies for underserved communities.  

In partnership with governments, NGOs, nonprofits, and research institutions, the AI for Good Lab will continue developing and scaling AI solutions that address real-world challenges across the Middle East and beyond.  

People

We will prepare the next generation for the AI economy 

We believe AI should enhance human ambition, strengthen human capability, and help prepare workers to thrive in a changing economy. That is why Microsoft will continue to invest in AI skills, workforce readiness, public-sector capability building, and inclusive talent development across Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, building on existing commitments to help skill more than 4.2 million people by 2030.

This work includes training for public-sector leaders, students, and workers; initiatives focused on expanding opportunities for women; and partnerships with educational institutions across the region. This work builds on programs such as Saudi Arabia’s AI Global Leadership Program, AI Skills 4 Women programs in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and the Women’s Datacenter Academy in Saudi Arabia. Microsoft will also engage with workforce coalitions that can support national talent strategies and policy recommendations. 

We will help education communities prepare learners for the AI era 

Microsoft is working with governments, educators, institutions, and partners across the Middle East to develop responsible AI principles across primary, secondary, and tertiary education. This includes supporting AI literacy, helping educators integrate AI into teaching and learning, and sharing practical guidance for responsible AI use in educational settings. Across Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, we will work with local partners to ensure students and educators can benefit from AI safely, responsibly, and effectively and will engage educators, policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society to support practical approaches to AI implementation that reflect local priorities. 

We will help empower workers in the AI economy 

We will partner with governments, employers, workers, education providers, and other stakeholders to help people adapt to changing workplace demands. Our focus is on practical skills development, workforce readiness, and leadership development that helps countries build competitive economies and create new opportunities for workers in an AI-enabled future.  

We will support local and national AI talent priorities across the Middle East 

Microsoft is partnering with governments, academic institutions, and civil society organizations to support national talent priorities by advancing AI skills, leadership development, and workforce readiness programs for public-sector leaders, students, underrepresented talent, and people across the Middle East. The goal is to help countries build globally competitive workforces, accelerate innovation, and unlock new economic opportunities in the AI era.  

From ambition to impact

While no one can predict the future, one thing is certain: Microsoft has been part of this region’s journey for more than 35 years, and we are committed to being a partner for the long term. We look forward to continuing to work alongside governments, businesses, educators, and communities to help build that future together. 

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Microsoft has disrupted EvilTokens, a powerful cybercrime platform that used AI at every step of the attack chain—from compromising email accounts to designing intricate roadmaps for financial fraud and scams. While EvilTokens helped cybercriminals access email accounts, at the center of the service was an AI-style chatbot that could analyze a victim’s inbox and help criminals identify trusted relationships, payment authorizations, and sensitive responsibilities, as well as other circumstances where fraud was most likely to succeed. The platform could even recommend fraud strategies, including drafting messages that impersonated trusted contacts to help criminals trick victims into taking action. 

In short, AI was not simply helping attackers write more convincing messages. It helped them decide who to target, who to impersonate, and how to most effectively exploit the relationship to extract as much money as possible.   

Within months of launching in February 2026, EvilTokens had been linked to more than 12,000 compromised email inboxes across over 10,000 organizations worldwide, showing how quickly the service gained traction. Microsoft observed the highest concentrations of victim activity in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, and France. Affected organizations ranged from wholesale distribution and construction to financial services, real estate, higher education, and healthcare. Working with partners, Microsoft seized 50 websites used to operate the service and disabled more than 150 additional domains tied to its supporting infrastructure. In the United Kingdom, the Metropolitan Police Service’s cybercrime team arrested two men on suspicion of offenses connected with the alleged operation of EvilTokens.  

But the significance of EvilTokens extends beyond its rapid growth and global reach. It offers an early warning of what happens when cybercriminals combine stolen access with AI capable of understanding how an organization works. 

From account access to financial fraud

EvilTokens helped criminals gain access to email accounts by tricking victims into entering an authentication code on Microsoft’s legitimate sign-in page. By completing the normal authentication sign-in process, victims unknowingly gave criminals access to their email accounts without revealing their passwords. That access could persist even after a password reset if the associated sessions and tokens were not also revoked. Microsoft Threat Intelligence provides additional technical details about the operation, how device-code attacks work, and steps customers can take to protect themselves here. 

Once inside an account, criminals have traditionally needed time and experience to sift through thousands of messages, identify decision-makers, understand payment processes, and find opportunities for fraud. 

EvilTokens began automating that work. Its AI tools could summarize and translate emails, surface financial conversations, map organizational roles, identify trusted relationships, and recommend potential targets. Preset prompts offered to find wire-transfer discussions, identify the organization’s “money movers,” locate vendor invoices, and determine the best people to impersonate.

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Today we published our latest Global AI Diffusion Report. Global AI diffusion continued to climb in the second quarter of 2026. In June, AI usage was 18.8% of the working-age population worldwide, an increase of about 1% from the first quarter of this year. Growth was broad-based: almost every economy saw increased usage.

Notably, the UAE (73.3%) and Singapore (64.3%) continue to top the leaderboard. South Korea again saw the largest absolute change, with an increase of 3.5 percentage points. Saudi Arabia climbed five places from 30th to 25th, the largest rise in the rankings. Japan recorded the largest relative change, growing by 2.2 percentage points, or roughly 10% relative to its Q1 usage of 22.5%. Worldwide, the quarter brought a continued widening of the AI gap between the Global North and South, with usage now at 28.8% in the North and 16.2% in the South.

To track all these trends, we continue to measure AI diffusion as the share of people worldwide ages of 15 and 64 who have used a generative AI product during the reported period. This measure is derived from aggregated and anonymized Microsoft telemetry data and is adjusted to reflect differences in operating system and device market share, internet penetration, and population. Additional details on the methodology are available in our AI Diffusion technical paper.

No single metric is perfect, and this one is no exception. Through the Microsoft AI Economy Institute, we continue to refine how we measure AI diffusion globally, including how adoption varies across countries in ways that best advance priorities such as scientific discovery and productivity gains. For this report, we rely on the strongest cross-country measure available today. Over the past year, there has been a significant rise in new AI tools and models. For our next report, we will expand our measure to include usage of these new tools and expect this update to increase AI user share across almost all economies, with larger projected increases in China.

In addition to our comparison of AI diffusion between the Global North and the Global South, we also find important differences in how AI is being used. Using consumer Microsoft Copilot usage insights, we examined these differences. The most notable difference is a higher share of education and learning use in the Global South.

This report also includes a substantive discussion of open-weight AI models. Open-weight AI model use is increasingly visible through application programming interface (API) usage of AI, where open models have captured a growing share of token volume. This shift could especially benefit the Global South by lowering access costs and enabling adaptation to local languages and needs, although barriers such as infrastructure, connectivity, and skills remain.

Download the latest Global AI Diffusion report and explore the data here.

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Why LinkedIn is challenging an overbroad government demand—and why Congress must make secrecy the exception

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard oral argument in LinkedIn’s (a Microsoft subsidiary) appeal challenging a government demand for user records and a related secrecy order that is preventing LinkedIn from notifying those users that the government is seeking their data. The appeal asks important, constitutional questions about whether service providers may challenge demands that sweep in records unrelated to an investigation, and when the government may prevent a provider from notifying the user of a request.  

This appeal continues Microsoft’s longstanding work to ensure that secrecy orders remain the exception, not the rule. LinkedIn’s appeal asks courts to enforce meaningful limits on both the scope of government demands and the secrecy that can accompany them. 

We recognize law enforcement’s important role in protecting public safety and investigating crime, and sometimes that does need to be done covertly. We respond to lawful legal requests. At the same time, customers and users deserve meaningful limits and independent oversight through an adversarial process. And, customers deserve to be notified when the government seeks their data, unless the government clearly establishes the need for secrecy under statutory and constitutional standards. 

Those safeguards fulfill basic constitutional rights. The Fourth Amendment protects the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. That right applies to papers kept in a desk, and it also applies when personal and business records are stored online. Online service providers, like LinkedIn and Microsoft, also have a First Amendment right to speak to their customers when the government obtains an order to search their private information. Secrecy may sometimes be justified—but it should be tailored to demonstrated needs and subject to meaningful review.  

This particular case arose after LinkedIn received a court order seeking user records together with a secrecy order preventing LinkedIn from informing anyone about the order. The details remain under seal, including the nature of the information the government seeks and the people who own that information. But the Fourth Circuit partially unsealed LinkedIn’s opening brief in July, allowing the public to understand some of the core issues. LinkedIn argues that the demand is overbroad, the secrecy order is unconstitutional, and the government has violated LinkedIn’s due process by withholding evidence from LinkedIn. 

Three amicus briefs from a broad coalition support LinkedIn’s position. The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Virginia argue that users’ privacy interests must inform whether a demand is reasonable and that providers may be the only practical means of challenging unlawful process because users often receive no notice. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press warns that overbroad demands, delayed notice, and secret evidence can expose confidential sources and chill newsgathering. Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and X emphasize that cloud providers are uniquely positioned to identify irrelevant requests and that secrecy orders require case-specific evidence rather than boilerplate assertions. Together, these briefs show why cloud providers must be able to test both the scope of government demands and the need for secrecy. 

Microsoft has a long record of standing up for these principles. In 2014, Microsoft successfully challenged a secrecy order connected to a National Security Letter that prevented notice to an enterprise customer. In 2016, we filed a landmark challenge to the widespread use of indefinite secrecy orders. We’ve successfully challenged individual secrecy orders time and again over the years. Our efforts contributed to updated Justice Department policies, but executive-branch practices can change. Durable protections require the development of case law and legislation. 

The U.S. House of Representatives recently took an important step in that direction. On August 31, the House passed legislation to rein in secret surveillance and strengthen notice protections when the government seeks data held by technology providers. As we explained when the bill passed, the reforms would place clearer limits on secrecy orders, require greater accountability, and help ensure that secrecy is the exception – not the rule. The Senate should act promptly to send these historic reforms to the President. 

The House –passed legislation recognizes that privacy and public safety are not opposing values. Clear standards can give investigators the confidentiality they genuinely need while providing courts, providers, and customers with predictable rules. The pending legislation and LinkedIn’s appeal are the latest, complementary chapters in this broader effort. Legislation can establish durable, system-wide rules for notice and accountability. Courts must meanwhile enforce the limits already contained in existing statutes and the Constitution. Neither task requires obstructing legitimate investigations. Rather, both mean the government must seek only relevant information, justify secrecy with specific evidence, and infringe on speech to the least extent possible. 

That is why today’s argument matters beyond a single sealed investigation. People and organizations increasingly entrust their most sensitive information to online services. If providers cannot challenge demands they know are overbroad—or if courts may silence them without a rigorous, adversarial review—the safeguards the law requires will be weakened precisely when they are most needed.

Microsoft and LinkedIn will continue to support lawful investigations while standing up for customer privacy, transparency, and the rule of law. We have appealed to the Fourth Circuit to preserve providers’ ability to challenge overbroad demands and to require the government to meet its constitutional burden before imposing secrecy. And we urge the Senate to complete the work the House began by enacting durable non-disclosure order reform.

Further reading 

• House passes historic reforms to rein in secret surveillance 

• New success in protecting customer rights unsealed today 

• Keeping secrecy the exception, not the rule 

• DOJ acts to curb the overuse of secrecy orders. Now it’s Congress’ turn. 

• DOJ’s newly released recommended practices are a win for cloud and enterprise customers 

• Ensuring secrecy orders are the exception not the rule when the government seeks data owned by our customers 

• The need for legislative reform on secrecy orders 

• Freedom is built on the protection of privacy | Episode 2 

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As Americans prepare to vote this November, artificial intelligence is changing how many people find and understand election information. 

Some voters are deliberately turning to AI tools with questions about candidates, ballot measures, election procedures, and issues that matter to their communities. Others are encountering AI-generated summaries at the top of search results. In either case, AI is increasingly becoming a front door to election information. 

This shift is happening quickly. More than 30% of the U.S. working-age population now uses AI (Microsoft AI Diffusion Index, Q1 2026; Microsoft, AI Adoption Across the United States). These tools can help people understand complicated topics, compare information, and explore unfamiliar issues. But election information can also present some challenges for AI. It is highly local, changes quickly, and can be incomplete, contested, or stripped of essential context. 

The answer is not to steer voters away from AI, it is to help people use it wisely, particularly when the information may influence aspects of their voting experience, such as how, when, and where they cast their ballot. 

That is why, on National Voter Registration Day, a day when our brands and products come together to encourage civic participation, we’re launching the next phase of our voter education initiative, Check. Recheck. Vote. This year, the campaign will equip voters with practical AI literacy skills for the 2026 election season.  

Check. Recheck. Vote.

We launched Check. Recheck. Vote. in 2024 to help voters recognize the risks posed by deceptive AI-generated content. Deepfakes and other deceptive media remain a serious concern. But in conversations with voters and election organizations, we are also hearing about a broader and more immediate challenge. Millions of people now encounter election information through AI-generated answers, and many are not sure how to determine whether those answers are current, complete, or reliable. 

The updated campaign gives voters three straightforward steps: 

• Check the sources and citations behind an AI-generated answer. Look for where the information came from, who published it, and when it was last updated. Be cautious when an answer provides no sources. 

• Recheck important details by visiting the original sources and comparing what other credible sources say. This is especially important for fast-changing or location-specific information. 

• Vote based on current information from your state or local election website, including official guidance on registration, voting options, deadlines, and polling locations. 

At the center of the campaign is a new 75-second video that shows how an AI-generated answer can appear during an ordinary election-related search, explains where these answers can fall short, and offers simple steps voters can take before relying on them. 

The campaign website pairs the video with practical guidance and links to authoritative election resources, including state-by-state voting information and tools for educators.  

We are working with the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) to scale the reach of this campaign across all fifty states and the territories and to point voters to accurate information directly from state and local election officials so they can participate with confidence. 

We believe that civics and voter education start well before a citizen is old enough to vote. That’s why we are also investing in efforts to extend AI voter literacy education in the classroom. The campaign website includes a classroom activity to help students examine how AI may shape the election information they encounter, practice verifying claims, and keep their own judgment at the center of the process. We are also amplifying our impact on this important issue by supporting the News Literacy Project. 

We’re also proud to announce today that, in partnership with iCivics, we are launching Village Square – a new Minecraft Education civic learning experience that helps students explore how communities make decisions and solve shared challenges. The game brings concepts such as dialogue, participation, and collective decision-making to life through immersive gameplay. Village Square gives educators and families an engaging, nonpartisan way to help young people practice listening to different perspectives, weighing trade-offs and working together to build stronger communities. 

Finally, we know that credible local reporting remains essential to informed civic participation, and that reporting is under strain in many communities. 

In Washington state, Microsoft is partnering with the Associated Press Fund for Journalism to expand election coverage for 10 local newsrooms operating 14 news websites. Participating newsrooms receive access to AP election results and race calls, vote tabulations, state-specific maps and graphics, and resources that help local journalists connect national and statewide developments to the communities they serve. 

The newsrooms represent communities from Seattle to Spokane and the Wenatchee Valley. Their work complements the reporting of the Associated Press, helping trusted, fact-based election coverage and results reach communities that might otherwise lack access. 

This investment reflects a broader reality. Voters need more than information. They need reliable sources that can provide context, ask hard questions, correct mistakes, and explain what national developments mean at the local level. 

Microsoft’s Support for the 2026 Midterms

Voters aren’t the only ones navigating this AI moment, so are the people running campaigns and conducting elections, all while facing an increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape. Microsoft has long supported the security and resilience of campaigns and elections. In 2018, we launched AccountGuard to help political campaigns and democracy-focused organizations defend against cyberattacks, and during the 2024 election cycle we joined dozens of other technology companies in the Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections. Here’s how that commitment continues today: 

Equipping election officials. With The Elections Group, International IDEA, Ready for Tuesday and Arizona State University’s Mechanics of Democracy Lab, we launched the free, open-source AI + Elections Skills Hub: prompts, sample AI agents, and draft policies for responsible adoption. It’s already reached 1,000+ officials across 45 states. 

Strengthening cybersecurity. We’ve deployed Microsoft Sentinel to several state and local election offices for stronger threat detection, and we’re also supporting select election and political stakeholders with MDASH to find and fix software vulnerabilities faster. 

Countering bomb hoaxes. More than 300 emailed bomb hoaxes disrupted polling places in 2024. In response, we’ve started a new Elections Bomb Threats Task Force alongside partners Social Scout, Nisos, and the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections (CSSE) to bring together digital intelligence and law enforcement expertise to track & share trends and reduce disruptions. An initial report on the hoaxes encountered in 2024 will shape our approach for 2026. 

Supporting campaigns. Built with Defending Digital Campaigns, our Secure AI Toolkit for Campaigns has reached 3,000+ campaigns and political stakeholders with practical AI guardrails. Our Campaign Technology team has also trained thousands of candidates, staff, and officials from both parties on responsible AI use and cybersecurity best practices. 

The technology continues to change, but our approach remains consistent: help voters find authoritative information and make informed judgments, help campaigns and election authorities defend against evolving threats, and help the election community adopt technology that strengthens security, accountability, and civic participation. This work is bipartisan by design, and it includes: 

• Azure for Elections – prioritized support and security for elections-critical cloud workloads 

• M365 for Campaigns – secure, cost-effective collaboration and email for candidates and campaigns 

• Deceptive AI in Elections Reporting – malicious deepfakes of candidates and election officials are disallowed on Microsoft platforms, and targeted individuals can report them directly 

• Content Provenance – Microsoft image generation products affix content provenance to images, with LinkedIn displaying that provenance to users 

• Civic engagement – continuing our long-standing work to promote civic engagement through our own products and partnerships 

The 2026 election will be the first U.S. federal election in which generative AI is part of the everyday environment for millions of voters as well as those who support the political process. That creates new risks, but it also gives us an opportunity to equip people with skills that will remain valuable well beyond a single election. 

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Today, Microsoft is sharing our Safe Participation Framework, which centers on designing and enabling safe, privacy-preserving, and age-appropriate experiences for young people online. Members of our AI Youth Futures Council have delivered a clear message: they want to learn, create, and prepare for a future with AI. Protecting their privacy, ensuring their safety, and preserving their opportunity to participate must go hand in hand.   

They are right. Children and families should not have to choose between the protections they need and the opportunities technology can provide. 

Technology companies have a responsibility both to protect young people from harm and to ensure they can benefit from technology through thoughtfully designed experiences, age-appropriate protections, and demonstrable safeguards. Microsoft’s Safe Participation Framework serves as a foundation for our work today, and we expect it to continue evolving as technology, research, and societal expectations change. We do not claim to have all the answers, but we believe it is important to share our approach and our learnings to help inform emerging regulatory frameworks and advance protection and opportunity together. 

Pillar one: Safety by design

Microsoft recognizes our responsibility to help create safer experiences for all users, particularly children and those more vulnerable to harm. Our safety-by-design approach seeks to embed protection from the outset: identifying foreseeable risks, examining the impact of product features and user experiences, and implementing proportionate safeguards. As risks evolve, we continue to learn from emerging research, science, andas well as from customers, governments, and other stakeholders. 

For more than a decade, Microsoft has invested in technologies designed to protect people online, beginning with PhotoDNA  in 2009 and continuing through our work to build safeguards for AI experiences and address emerging harms such as synthetic and non-consensual intimate imagery. We have also learned that families want tools that are simpler, intuitive, and easier to use. That is why, earlier this week, we announced new protections and defaults for children, teenagers, and families using Windows Family Safety. We view these changes as an important step forward, while recognizing that earning and maintaining trust requires continued investment, learning, and iteration. 

Bing has also strengthened protections against child sexually abusive material (CSAM) across its generative AI experiences. We have also expanded SafeSearch globally to cover additional categories of harmful content, helping reduce the risk of exposure to harmful material. We will continue to make progress, listen to our users and stakeholders, and learn by working with others to strengthen safety.  

Our goal is to help children and teenagers participate confidently in appropriate digital experiences that reinforce access to the meaningful educational, social, and economic opportunities technology can provide. Achieving that goal requires real protections that are proportionate to risk and implemented in ways that respect users’ privacy. Risks are not uniform across different technologies and services, and safeguards should reflect and address those differences.   

Pillar two: Age-differentiated experiences

We recognize that young people are not a single group. Their needs, capabilities, and expectations evolve with age, development, and context. For that reason, age-appropriate design is an important element of creating safer digital experiences and complements safety-by-design. Age-appropriate design ensures protections and experiences are responsive to the needs of users at different stages of development. This approach informs experiences across Microsoft’s consumer ecosystem.  

On XBOX, we leverage family safety and privacy tools designed specifically to help manage online interactions, content access, spending, screen time, and privacy settings. These features are intended to support safer experiences while giving families flexibility to make choices. We are applying many of these same learnings to Copilot. All users must now sign in to use Copilot, and access is restricted for children under 13 (or older where required by local law). We have also implemented measures to reduce exposure to harmful content, directing users to crisis support resources when self-harm risks are detected, and encouraging healthy use through transparency, break reminders, reporting tools, and guardrails to protect against delusional outputs.   

Microsoft has now also extended protections at the platform level. Through our new Windows Age application programming interface (API), expanded age assurance capabilities, and enhanced family safety tools, Microsoft is helping establish a more consistent and privacy-conscious foundation for age-appropriate experiences across the broader ecosystem. These capabilities are intended to provide developers with trusted age signals to support age-appropriate protections, making the experience ultimately easier for families to understand and navigate downstream. 

Reliable age signals play an important role in enabling age-appropriate experiences. Innovations such as the Windows Age API help provide privacy-preserving age signals while minimizing the collection and sharing of personal data. Young people share this expectation. Participants in Microsoft’s AI Youth Futures Council have consistently emphasized the importance of understanding how their information is collected, used, and protected. 

Pillar three: Education and empowerment

Technology alone cannot deliver safe participation. Young people and their families must have an opportunity to provide direct feedback, and they must have easy access to tools and resources that support and build their knowledge as they navigate digital experiences, evaluate what they encounter, and decide when to seek help. Digital literacy is, therefore, a core component of child safety. 

Microsoft has invested in digital literacy and safety education for years through resources and partnerships that reach communities around the world. Earlier this year, we launched Behind the Chat: A Human Guide to Safe AI Conversations, designed specifically to help young people understand the opportunities and risks associated with AI companionship. This toolkit is supported by classroom resources for educators and materials for parents and trusted adults, reflecting our belief that supporting young people requires an ecosystem approach. Beginning this fall, we will expand these resources throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. We will also continue working closely with educators to ensure safety and privacy. 

Over the coming year, we will deepen partnerships with researchers, AI Safety Institutes (AISIs), governments, and civil society to advance the research, evaluations, and benchmarks needed for safer digital and AI experiences. Working together, we will learn and help build the foundation for the next generation of trusted technology. 

A framework for the future

Our work is far from finished. As technology evolves, our understanding of how to support young people safely and responsibly must continue to evolve with it. This framework reflects our current approach, informed by evidence, shaped by young people and their families, and grounded in ongoing learning. We recognize that we do not have every answer, and that building safer digital experiences will require continued experimentation, humility, and collaboration. No single organization can do this alone. Progress will depend on deep partnerships across government, industry, civil society, educators, and families worldwide. Together, we can help build a future in which every young person has the opportunity to participate, create, learn, and thrive. 

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