April 4 (Reuters) – Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman’s remarks were interrupted by a pro-Palestine protest employee who celebrated its ties to Israel on Friday at the 50th anniversary celebration of the technology company.
“You are a war aggressor. Stop using AI for genocide,” Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad said at an event in Redmond, Washington.
Suleiman replied, “I heard your protest, thank you.” The protest staff were then escorted.
An Associated Press survey showed that earlier this year, AI models from Microsoft and OpenAI were used as part of Israel’s military plan, choosing bombing targets during the war in Gaza and Lebanon.
Various other companies and educational institutions are also facing protests in relations with Israel, as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in the Israeli military attacks has continued.
According to Israeli Tallies, in October 2023, when the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, the latest bloodshed in decades in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
According to Gaza health officials, Israel’s subsequent attack on Gaza, Hamas, killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, while also triggering charges of genocide and war crimes denied by Israel. The attack has been internally displaced, with almost the entire 2.3 million people in Gaza causing a hunger crisis.
Verge Tech News website quoted an email saying protest employee Aboussad sent to other Microsoft employees to prove her protest.
Microsoft says it offers many ways to hear all sounds in ways that don’t cause business disruptions.
AP quoted Aboussad as saying that she and another protest employee lost access to their work account after the protest.
(Reported by Kanishka Singh of Washington and Jeffrey Dastin of Redmond; Editor of Stephen Coates)
