Microsoft Employees Protest AI Use by Israeli Military During 50th Anniversary Celebration

Washington, MINA – During Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration in Washington state, several employees disrupted the event to protest the company’s AI products being used by the Israeli military, Anadolu Agency reported.

The first interruption came from software engineer Ibithal Aboussad, who works on the artificial intelligence speech recognition engine team. As AI CEO Mustafa Sulleyman was delivering a speech, Aboussad confronted him on stage, accusing Microsoft of enabling genocide in the region through its AI technology.

“Mustafa, shame on you,” Aboussad said, criticizing the company’s actions. “You claim that you care for using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military,” she continued, adding that fifty thousand people had died due to these actions.

Aboussad called Sulleyman a “war profiteer” and demanded the company cease its involvement in such activities.

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Later, during a separate event with Sulleyman, former CEOs Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates, another employee, Vaniya Agrawal, also protested.

Agrawal, a software engineer in the AI division, accused the company of complicity in the deaths of fifty thousand Palestinians in Gaza.

“Shame on you all. You’re all hypocrites,” Agrawal shouted, urging Microsoft to sever ties with Israel.

In the aftermath, Agrawal sent an email to Microsoft executives, stating that she would resign, as she felt complicit in the company’s actions.

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Aboussad similarly expressed her outrage in an email, revealing she was unaware her work would be used for military purposes.

In response, a Microsoft spokesperson reiterated the company’s commitment to high standards of business practices and emphasized the importance of expressing concerns without disrupting business operations.

This protest comes amid growing scrutiny of tech companies and their involvement in military contracts, with several AI firms walking back bans on military use of their products in recent months. []

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)

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