Tech giant Microsoft dismissed an employee for heckling CEO Satya Nadella on Monday during the company’s annual Build developer conference in Seattle, in protest of AI services being used by the Israel Defense Forces for the war against Hamas in Gaza.
In the wake of his firing, software engineer Joe Lopez sent a mass email to the company’s employees disputing Microsoft’s claims about how its Azure cloud computing platform was being used by the Israeli military, AP reported.
Microsoft confirmed on May 15 in a blog post that it sold advanced AI and cloud computing services to the IDF to help the military rescue the hostages that were kidnapped from Israel’s “Gaza Envelope” communities during the Hamas-led terrorist invasion on Oct. 7, 2023.
The tech giant further stated that following an extensive review of the matter, “we have found no evidence to date that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict in Gaza.”
At the annual conference, Lopez was heard shouting in the opening minutes during a speech by Nadella, for which the employee was escorted out of the room.
Disruptions over the Gaza conflict continued to disrupt the conference at the Seattle Convention Center, as anti-Israel protesters shouted outside the venue.
In one incident, Microsoft was compelled to briefly cut the audio of one livestreamed event, AP reported.
This was not the first time an anti-Israel Microsoft employee was fired over interruptions. Two employees were dismissed in April for disrupting the company’s 50th anniversary celebration held that month.
The protest began as Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman was on stage presenting product updates and a long-term vision for the company at the Redmond, Wash., live event to a global audience that included Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.
“Mustafa, shame on you,” shouted Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad as she walked toward the stage, forcing Suleyman to pause his speech. “You claim that you care about using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military. Fifty thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide,” she said, using figures published by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
“Thank you for your protest, I hear you,” said Suleyman.
Aboussad persisted, shouting that the 40-year-old British CEO and “all of Microsoft” had blood on their hands for supplying artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military.
She also threw a keffiyeh scarf onto the stage before being escorted out of the event.
A second Microsoft employee later interrupted another part of the celebration.
