Recent updates
Editor's note: After the event The Verge reported that the protestor who interrupted Microsoft's presentation is Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad, and that she sent an email to hundreds or thousands of Microsoft employees after the event. I have updated this story accordingly, and you can read the full text of her letter on The Verge.
Microsoft hosted a special live event at its headquarters today (April 4) to mark its 50th anniversary and promote the new features coming to its Copilot AI assistant. But less than 30 minutes in, something unexpected happened.
Tom's Guide was there in person to witness Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad interrupt Microsoft Copilot CEO Mustafa Suleyman in the middle of his presentation. Aboussad began decrying Microsoft's business of selling AI tools and technologies to Israel specifically for use in combat.
"Shame on you all!" She shouted. "You have blood on your hands!"
The woman went on for several minutes, and Suleyman politely stood there repeatedly saying "I hear your protest."
"50,000 people have died, and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region," she continued. "You are a war profiteer!"
The Associated Press published the results of an investigation into Microsoft and OpenAI's business dealings with Israel earlier this year.
The AP reported that the Israeli military significantly increased its use of AI systems (including Microsoft software and use of Microsoft's Azure servers) to hunt down militants in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack in October 2023, and that civilian deaths in the region have gone up significantly since then.
“This is the first confirmation we have gotten that commercial AI models are directly being used in warfare,” AI Now Institute chief AI scientist (and former OpenAI senior safety engineer) Heidy Khlaaf told the AP early this year. “The implications are enormous for the role of tech in enabling this type of unethical and unlawful warfare going forward.”
In the wake of that revelation five Microsoft employees were ejected from a company meeting in which they were protesting the revelations revealed by the AP's investigation. Today, Ibtihal Aboussad was allowed to speak for several minutes before being escorted from the venue.
After the event concluded, our editor noticed more protestors outside holding up signs and chanting slogans decrying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Microsoft's involvement.
During a post-event panel featuring past and current Microsoft CEOs Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, and Satya Nadella another protestor interrupted to again decry the company's involvement with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but she was quickly removed.
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