Protesters disrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration on Friday, interrupting a speech by AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman and citing the company’s sale of artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military.
Microsoft employees Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal shouted slogans, including “You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military.” They also displayed a keffiyeh scarf, symbolizing support for Palestinian people.
The protest followed an investigation by The Associated Press in February, which revealed Microsoft and OpenAI had been used in an Israeli military program to select bombing targets during recent wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and co-founder Bill Gates were on stage when the protest began. A company statement said it asks for protests to be done without disrupting business, but declined to say whether further action would be taken against protesters.
Aboussad and Agrawal have lost access to their work accounts since the protest, a possible indication that they may have been fired.
Source: https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2025/04/major-corporations-anniversary-celebration-disrupted-by-protesters.html