Which Microsoft Employees Blamed AI for Israeli Attacks? Tw
Which Microsoft Employees Blamed AI for Israeli Attacks?
Two Microsoft employees — Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal — publicly protested Microsoft’s involvement in providing AI and cloud services to the Israeli military, and blamed the company’s technology for enabling violence in Gaza.
Key Events:
• During Microsoft’s 50th anniversary event, Ibtihal Aboussad, a speech recognition engineer, interrupted CEO Mustafa Suleyman’s speech and shouted:
“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 added:
“You have blood on your hands. All of Microsoft has blood on its hands.”
— (Windows Central, CNBC)
• Around the same time, Vaniya Agrawal, another engineer, interrupted a different Microsoft event and accused the company of being:
“A digital weapons manufacturer enabling surveillance, apartheid, and genocide.”
• Both Aboussad and Agrawal were fired by Microsoft shortly after their protests. (AP News, Jewish News UK)
Background:
• Microsoft has contracts with the Israeli government, including providing cloud services via its Azure platform under the Project Nimbus agreement (a joint Google-Microsoft deal).
• Critics argue that Microsoft’s AI tools are being used in military surveillance and drone operations, particularly amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
• These protests are part of a larger employee movement at big tech companies, where workers are challenging the ethical use of AI in warfare and surveillance.
Conclusion:
• Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal are the two Microsoft employees who openly blamed Microsoft’s AI for contributing to violence in Gaza.
• Their protest was highly public and resulted in their termination.
• The incident has sparked global debate about the role of Big Tech in modern warfare.
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