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Protests Erupt at Microsoft’s 50th Anniversary Over AI and Military Ties
During Microsoft’s recent 50th anniversary celebration, tensions rose as a software engineer from the company’s artificial intelligence division made a bold public protest against the use of Microsoft’s AI technologies in military operations. This disruption occurred while Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, was addressing attendees.
Ibtihal Aboussad, the engineer who interrupted the event in Redmond, Washington, confronted Suleyman directly, accusing the tech giant of complicity in violence. “Mustafa, shame on you,” she declared, highlighting concerns that Microsoft’s AI products are being utilized by the Israeli military. “You claim that you care for using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military. Fifty thousand people have died, and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region,” she continued.
Suleyman acknowledged Aboussad and her protest while she escalated her message, declaring, “You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide, Mustafa. Stop using AI for genocide in our region. You have blood on your hands. All of Microsoft has blood on its hands.” The protester, who is part of the team focused on speech recognition at Microsoft AI, was quickly escorted from the venue.
After her disruptive action, Aboussad sent a passionate email to Suleyman and other top Microsoft executives, including CEO Satya Nadella. In this correspondence, she articulated her reasons for speaking out. “I spoke up today because after learning that my org was powering the genocide of my people in Palestine, I saw no other moral choice,” she stated. She drew attention to the culture of silence and intimidation faced by her fellow Arab and Palestinian employees at Microsoft, emphasizing how dissent within the company has been met with harsh repercussions.
Microsoft did not respond to inquiries seeking comment on the incident.
In recent months, the landscape of AI companies has seen a shift toward military collaborations. Major firms have begun reversing their previous stances on military-use bans. For instance, Anthropic and Palantir recently partnered with Amazon Web Services to enhance access for U.S. intelligence and defense agencies to AI technologies. Palantir also extended its contract related to military applications, reaching up to $100 million.
OpenAI has similarly entered into agreements with defense contractor Anduril to utilize AI for national security purposes, and Scale AI secured a multi-million dollar deal with the Department of Defense for its AI programs.
In her email, Aboussad expressed her initial excitement about working with cutting-edge AI technology, emphasizing that she was unaware her contributions would be used in military applications. “I was not informed that Microsoft would sell my work to the Israeli military and government. I did not sign up to write code that violates human rights,” she noted, also including a link to the “No Azure for Apartheid” petition.
In a related incident on the same day, another Microsoft employee, Vaniya Agrawal, also disrupted an official presentation by Nadella, voicing similar grievances about the company’s involvement in military operations. Following her protest, she made it clear she intended to resign, citing an increasing awareness of Microsoft’s role in what she described as the military-industrial complex.
Agrawal articulated her views, stating that Microsoft is complicit as a “digital weapons manufacturer that powers surveillance, apartheid, and genocide.” She urged her colleagues to acknowledge their complicity, stressing that the impact of their work supports these systemic issues, even for those not directly involved in AI or Azure.
“Our corporate climb only fuels the system,” Agrawal concluded, further promoting the same petition that Aboussad had shared.
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