Last Friday, two software engineers vocally protested the use of Microsoft's AI technology by the Israeli military. This follows the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement's calls to boycott Xbox earlier that same week (via Rock Paper Shotgun). It has since been reported that, as of this Monday, those two software engineers have been fired by Microsoft.
According to emails and internal communication seen by CNBC, AI software engineer Ibtihal Aboussad was told her employment would be terminated on the grounds of "just cause, wilful misconduct, disobedience or wilful neglect of duty." Fellow protestor Vaniya Agrawal had intended to resign from Microsoft on April 11, but the company wrote to her on Monday stating it had "decided to make [her] resignation immediately effective" that same day.
In Aboussad's case, Microsoft made direct reference to her protest. Microsoft wrote via internal communication that the company took issue with the public nature of her protest, claiming that Aboussad could have raised concerns "confidentially" with either her manager or Global Employee Relations.
The company went on to write, "Instead, you chose to intentionally disrupt the speech of Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman," and that it had "concluded that your misconduct was designed to gain notoriety and cause maximum disruption to this highly anticipated event." Ultimately, the company told Aboussad, "Immediate cessation of your employment is the only appropriate response."
As previously reported by AP, the Israeli military has increasingly relied on Microsoft's AI technology after the deadly surprise attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, becoming the second largest military customer only behind the US military. In March 2024 the Israeli military's use of AI spiked up to "200 times" the rate it had been prior to the October 7 attack.
According to AP, the Israeli military "uses AI to sift through vast troves of intelligence, [intercept] communications and [...] to find suspicious speech or behavior and learn the movements of its enemies [through surveillance]," with their investigation also highlighting the mortal risks posed by AI false positives in warfare.
To briefly recap, during Microsoft's 50th-anniversary event last week in Redmond, Washington, Ibithal Aboussad challenged Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman as he took to the stage. She said, "Mustafa, shame on you. You claim that you care for 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." As Aboussad was escorted from the event, she said, "You have blood on your hands. All of Microsoft has blood on its hands."
That same day, a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement provided to PC Gamer, "We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard. Importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not cause a business disruption. If that happens, we ask participants to relocate." However, this is not the first time Microsoft has fired employees who had previously taken a public stance on the conflict; in October 2024, Abdo Mohamed and Hossam Nasr were fired after organising a vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza.
Following her ejection from the anniversary event, Aboussad sent an email to a number of Microsoft executives including Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, finance chief Amy Hood, operating chief Carolina Dybeck Happe, and Microsoft president Brad Smith.
In this email, Aboussad clarified her stance, writing, "I spoke up today because after learning that my org was powering the genocide of my people in Palestine, I saw no other moral choice. This is especially true when I’ve witnessed how Microsoft has tried to quell and suppress any dissent from my coworkers who tried to raise this issue." Internal communication revealed that Microsoft viewed this email written by Aboussad as "an admission that [she had] deliberately and willfully engaged in [...] misconduct."
Software engineer Vaniya Agrawal had also spoken up at a separate meeting with Microsoft executives that also took place last Friday, interrupting Satya Nadella. She had similarly composed an email further clarifying her stance, writing, "Over the past 1.5 years, I’ve grown more aware of Microsoft’s growing role in the military-industrial complex." Agrawal goes on to claim Microsoft is "complicit," that the company is a "digital weapons manufacturer that powers surveillance, apartheid, and genocide," and that "by working for this company, we are all complicit."
Some of this language is echoed by BDS, which also described Microsoft as "perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid regime and ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza."
The organisation has since called for gamers to "cancel [their] Xbox Game Pass subscription" in order to apply pressure on the company. BDS has also called for the boycott of "all Microsoft Gaming products, including Xbox-branded consoles, headsets, accessories and all games published by Microsoft-owned publishing labels (such as Xbox Game Studios, Activision, Bethesda and Blizzard)."
In her initial email, Aboussad included a link to No Azure for Apartheid, an organisation calling for Microsoft to end "its direct and indirect complicity in Israeli apartheid and genocide." The organisation's aims are supported by a number of internal Microsoft employees, having garnered over 1,000 petition signatures and featuring the words "We refuse to be complicit" on its landing page.
