An Indian-origin Microsoft employee disrupted the tech giant’s 50th anniversary celebrations last week publicly confronting the company’s top leadership over its alleged involvement in arming the Israeli military with AI-powered technology in a dramatic display of dissent. The protest took place at Washington’s Redmond as Microsoft’s past and present leaders — Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Satya Nadella — shared the stage for the first time in a decade, alongside newly appointed AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman.
Vaniya Agrawal, a software engineer at Microsoft since September 2023, interrupted the high-profile event, drawing attention to the company’s controversial role in providing artificial intelligence tools to Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
“50,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. How dare you? Shame on all of you for celebrating on their blood,” Agrawal thundered at the event.
Her act of protest was preceded by another employee, Ibtihal Aboussad, whose forceful accusations during Suleyman’s presentation quickly went viral.
“Mustafa, shame on you,” Aboussad shouted during the keynote speech, accusing Microsoft of hypocrisy. “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 in our region,” she said before throwing a keffiyeh scarf — a symbol of Palestinian solidarity — onto the stage.
Suleyman responded calmly: “Thank you for your protest, I hear you.” But the protester continued, calling out the company for having “blood on their hands,” before being escorted out of the venue.
Both Agrawal and Suleyman resigned from the company following the public confrontation.
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“You may have seen me stand up earlier today to call out Satya during his speech at the Microsoft 50th anniversary. Here’s why I decided to leave the company, and why I spoke up today,” Agrawal wrote in a company-wide email, adding that her last day at the company will be April 11.
The protests have cast a shadow over Microsoft’s celebrations and brought renewed scrutiny to its business ties with governments. An Associated Press investigation earlier this year revealed that AI models developed by Microsoft and its partner OpenAI were deployed in an Israeli military program to identify bombing targets during military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
Before joining Microsoft, Agrawal worked at Amazon in various engineering roles and held several unconventional jobs, including a medical assistant, tea consultant, and pharmacy technician. She holds a degree in Software Engineering from Arizona State University and is a recipient of the Grace Hopper Scholarship, which supports women in computing.
The internal protests mirror a wider reckoning across Silicon Valley. Several tech companies and academic institutions have faced backlash for their collaborations with Israel amid the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Since the conflict escalated in October 2023, over 50,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 2.3 million people displaced, according to international agencies.
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