Microsoft fires engineers for protest against AI supply to Israeli military

US tech giant Microsoft has fired two software engineers who protested against the company’s AI technology supply to the Israeli military.

Ibtihal Aboussad, a software engineer in Microsoft’s AI division, was fired on Monday for “wilful misconduct, disobedience or neglect of duty.” Vaniya Agrawal, another engineer, had planned to resign on 11 April, but the company made her resignation effective immediately on Monday, according to CNBC.

The protests began on Friday when Aboussad interrupted AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman’s presentation during the company’s 50th-anniversary event, shouting that he had “blood on his hands” and accusing Microsoft of enabling the Israeli military with AI weapons. “50,000 people have died, and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region,” she said.

Later, Agrawal disrupted a separate panel featuring CEO Satya Nadella, former CEO Steve Ballmer and founder Bill Gates, shouting: “Shame on all of you… Cut ties with Israel.”

Following the protests, Aboussad emailed Microsoft staff and executives, alleging that the company had suppressed dissent among employees. The email included a link to a petition from “No Azure for Apartheid,” a group of Microsoft employees who have previously protested against the company’s ties to Israel.

Microsoft responded to Aboussad’s email, saying that they acknowledged her “misconduct” and asserting that the “immediate cessation” of her employment “is the only appropriate response.”

Agrawal similarly expressed her concerns in an email, criticising Microsoft’s involvement in the military-industrial complex and labelling the company as being “complicit” in supporting surveillance, apartheid and genocide.

A Microsoft spokesperson said on Friday: “We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard. Importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not cause business disruption. If that happens, we ask participants to relocate.”

The Israeli military employs AI to analyse intelligence, intercept communications and surveillance data for signs of suspicious behaviour and track enemy movements.

Over 50,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war against Palestinians in the enclave.

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