- A Microsoft engineer disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary event, accusing leadership of enabling genocide through AI technology used by the Israeli military.
- The employee later sent a company-wide email alleging Microsoft’s AI services support mass surveillance and deadly targeting systems in Gaza.
- Citing a $133 million defense contract with Israel, the protest calls for Microsoft to end its military ties and urges staff to demand ethical use of their work.
Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration was disrupted by an employee protest targeting the company’s involvement in artificial intelligence technology allegedly used in military operations in Gaza. The protester, identified as Ibtihal Aboussad, a software engineer in Microsoft’s AI Platform division, interrupted a keynote address by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, calling out the company’s role in what she described as war crimes and genocide.
Following the incident, Aboussad circulated a detailed internal email to large employee mailing lists, outlining her reasons for the protest. She claimed that her work in Microsoft’s AI department was being used by the Israeli military to conduct surveillance and assist in deadly operations against Palestinian civilians. The email described a culture of suppression within Microsoft, alleging that Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim employees have faced harassment and retaliation for raising concerns over the past year and a half.
Aboussad pointed to reports of escalating violence in Gaza, citing figures of over 300,000 Palestinians killed and highlighting the destruction of civilian infrastructure. She linked these developments to Microsoft’s AI technology, including services used for data processing, transcription, and translation, which she said are integrated into Israel’s targeting systems. Public reporting has shown a dramatic increase in the Israeli military’s use of Microsoft Azure and OpenAI services since early 2024.
Further scrutiny has been directed at a $133 million contract between Microsoft and Israel’s Ministry of Defense, with accusations that Microsoft’s cloud and AI infrastructure support surveillance and targeting tools. Aboussad’s message emphasized that even employees who are not directly involved in military-related projects contribute to the company’s ability to support such contracts, raising ethical concerns across the workforce.
The protest has intensified internal debates about corporate responsibility and the ethical use of AI. Aboussad urged fellow employees to take a stand by signing a petition to end Microsoft’s contracts with the Israeli military and to engage in open discussions about the company’s role in global conflicts. She referenced Microsoft’s past decisions to divest from controversial ventures, calling for similar action to prevent complicity in what international bodies have described as potential war crimes.
