This Software Engineer Disrupted A Microsoft AI Presentation To Call Out Its Complicity In Israel’s Genocide
“My biggest fear is waking up to my 9–5 and realizing that my code might be killing children today.”
Moroccan woman software engineer Ibtihal Aboussad disrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration to protest against the company’s role in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The 26-year-old, who works in Microsoft’s AI division, interrupted Microsoft AI’s CEO Mustafa Suleyman’s presentation on updates to the company’s AI products on April 4, shouting, “Mustafa, shame on you.”
Aboussad slammed Microsoft for being complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, saying that the company's AI tools were being used in Israel’s military operations that have killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
“You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military. 50,000 people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region,” Aboussad said.
An investigation by the Associated Press in February 2025 revealed that AI models developed by Microsoft and OpenAI are being used as part of an Israeli military program to select bombing targets during its campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
"All of Microsoft has blood on its hands. Shame on you, Microsoft," Aboussad said before she was escorted out.
“Thank you for your protest. I hear you,” Suleyman responded.
Another employee, an Indian-American woman software engineer, Vaniya Agrawal, also interrupted the event, protesting the company’s complicity in Israel’s war as well.
“Shame on you all. You’re all hypocrites,” Agrawal said before also being escorted out.
Aboussad and Agrawal have both lost access to their work accounts after the protest and have not been able to log back in since, AP reported.
“They might come after me for what I said, but my fear of retaliation doesn’t even compare to my fear of contributing to technologies used to bomb innocent people,” Aboussad told EFE Agencia outside the summit.
“My biggest fear is waking up to my 9–5 and realizing that my code might be killing children today,” she said.
In February, five Microsoft employees were removed from an internal meeting with CEO Satya Nadella after protesting the company’s contracts related to military applications.
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