Microsoft fired two employees who suspended the company 50th Anniversary Ceremony A group representing workers said it would protest the work of supplying artificial intelligence technology to Israeli military.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
The protest began on Friday, and has walked to the stage where Microsoft software engineer Ibtihal Aboussad is unveiling the executive's long-term vision of new product features and Microsoft's AI ambitions.
“You claim to be concerned about using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military,” shouted Aboussad at Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. “50,000 people have died and Microsoft is bolstering this genocide in our area.”
The protest forced Suleyman to pause his story. It was streamed live from Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington. Among the participants on Microsoft's 50th anniversary were co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.
“Thank you for your protest, I'd like to hear you,” Suleyman said. Absad continued, yelling that Thuleman and “all Microsoft” had blood in their hands. She also threw a Kefier scarf on stage, which has become a symbol of support for the Palestinian people before being escorted from the event.
The second protester, Microsoft employee Vaniya Agrawal, suspended the part after the event.
Absad was invited on a video call Monday with a personnel representative who was said to have been fired immediately. Agrawal was notified via email, according to Apartheid's Azure No Azure, which is protesting the sale of Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform.
Investigation by Associated Press It was released earlier this year The Microsoft and Openai AI models were used as part of the Israeli military programme to select bombing targets during the recent wars in Gaza and Lebanon. The story also includes details of an Israeli airstrike in 2023, raiding a vehicle carrying members of a Lebanese family, killing three young girls and their grandmother.
In February, there were five Microsoft employees. I was kicked out of the meeting He protested the contract with CEO Satya Nadella.
“We provide many paths so that every voice can be heard,” a statement from the company said on Friday. “Importantly, I ask that this be done in a way that does not cause business disruption. If that happens, we ask participants to move. We are committed to ensuring that business practices remain at the highest standards.”
Microsoft refused to say whether it was taking further action on Friday. Absad told the Associated Press that he lost access to his work account shortly after the protest and was unable to log in.
Dozens of Google workers were fired last year after internal protests surrounding the contracts that tech companies have with the Israeli government. The sit-in of an employee at the Google office in Sunnyvale, California targeted a $1.2 billion deal known as Project Nimbus, which provides AI technology to the Israeli government.
Google workers later filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Commission, seeking to get their jobs back.
