Mon Apr 07 21:00:00 UTC 2025: **Microsoft Fires Employees Who Protested AI Sales to Israeli Military at 50th Anniversary Event**
REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft has fired two employees who disrupted the company’s 50th-anniversary celebration to protest its provision of artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military. The protest, which occurred Friday during a presentation by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, involved two employees, Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal, who interrupted the livestream event, attended by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.
Aboussad, a software engineer, took the stage, accusing Microsoft of complicity in the deaths of Palestinians due to its AI technology being used by the Israeli military. She threw a keffiyeh scarf onto the stage before being escorted out. Agrawal interrupted later in the event.
According to No Azure for Apartheid, an advocacy group representing the employees, both were subsequently terminated. Microsoft has not yet publicly commented on the firings. The company’s statement from Friday emphasized its commitment to hearing employee voices while maintaining business operations.
This incident follows an Associated Press investigation earlier this year revealing that AI models from Microsoft and OpenAI were used in Israeli military operations, including an airstrike that killed three young girls and their grandmother. Similar protests at Microsoft have occurred previously, with five employees ejected from a meeting with CEO Satya Nadella in February. This follows a similar pattern of firings at Google last year, where dozens of employees were dismissed for protesting a large AI contract with the Israeli government. Those employees subsequently filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
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