A Microsoft employee disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary event to protest its use of AI.
“Shame on you,” said Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad, speaking directly to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. “You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide. Stop using AI for genocide in our region. You have blood on your hands. All of Microsoft has blood on its hands. How dare you all celebrate when Microsoft is killing children. Shame on you all.”
Sources at Microsoft tell The Verge that shortly after Aboussad was ushered out of Microsoft’s event, she sent an email to a number of email distribution lists that contain hundreds or thousands of Microsoft employees. Here is Aboussad’s email in full:
She is SO BRAVE. Wow. I wish I had half that strength.
!lemmysilver
Thank you for voting. You can vote again in 24 hours. leaderboard
Microsoft will sell US citizens out in a second when the government tells them to. They will use their AI to round us up without batting an eye. They can not be trusted anymore.
Microsoft is now a threat to democracy and human existence. They are already working against us with governments. This is the tipping point that no one will hear about.
There is too much at stake and they are too big to fail. The government will viciously take down anyone spreading the truth. Continuing to support Microsoft is now a death sentence to democracy.
It takes massive courage to give up a cozy job at Microsoft and potentially damage your entire career to stand up for your values this way. Props to her!
This is what happens when you read and watch hamas’ war propaganda online.
There are photos and videos of russian soldiers dying. Does that give ukraine the fault for this war?
Which particular set of Israeli policies are you supporting here?
The 10-15 civilian deaths per strike on a possible low level Hamas supporter?
The continued “accidental” killing of medical staff, including Red Cross and Red Crescent workers, and journalists?
The idea of turning off water and electricity from all of Gaza as a valid response?
The escalation of illegal settlement and theft of Palestinian property and land in the West Bank, with IDF support no less?
Or the use of the Hannibal Protocol against Israeli Civilians on October 8th by IDF forces?
Or do you just not think it is incumbent on the one with greater power and strength to offer the olive branch first if peace is truly desires? And in fact would rather the Palestinian people are smeared across an enlarged Israel?
Children are not soilders. I don’t think anyone is criticising israel for killing hamas leader or soilders, especially given that hamas is a terrist organization, and Isreal is provoked; but bombing hospital, killing children, journalists, and destroying UN shelters are not okay.
Whether terrorist attack justify a full scale invasion might be debatable, but sabotaging humanitarian effort, killing children and non-combative unit is not.
Hamas does rely on child soldiers.
Yes, and journalist soilders, UN shelter soilders, and the humanitarian aid workers from World Central Kitchen from U.S., U.K., and Australia, believe it or not, also hamas soldiers.
The UN palestine workers (or at least some) were proven to be associated to hamas.
For the rest I need sources.
‘Source for thee, but none for me’ is an interesting rhetorical strategy. Let’s see how it works out.
Just google that shit bruv
The UN even admitted to it and kicked out some of their workers
What the fuck are you on about? I’m commenting on your demand for sources while also providing none for numerous claims. Interesting strategy. You must have studied Plato.
Hahahah you sir, ate. chefkiss
So it’s okay to kill children, because they might be Hamas? Do you hear yourself?
When parents knowingly let their children play near enemy soldiers they’re stupid…
deleted by creator
This is what happens when you read Israeli war propaganda online.
Genocide apologists are the absolute worst scum.
I would try to write up well-worded arguments backed up with valid sources, but there’s no point. No matter how well I try to back up my arguments with valid sources, all I get is emotionally biased hate with no content so I’ve given up on that because it’s not worth the effort. Feel free to give me articles from unbiased sources.
I do admit that israel has done the odd shitty thing but it by far isn’t as bad as pro-palestinian brainwashed people make it out to be.
I want to also ask you to propose an alternative response to what hamas is doing after reading up on how they have acted in the past.
The odd shitty thing? Israel’s been attacking innocent civilians for well over a year now. Hamas is shitty, but there is nothing that warrrants the level of destruction Isreal’s done to Gaza.
Hamas abusing their own people leads to things like this
😂😂R u dumb?
Explain hamas child soldiers and human shields then.
‘Oh these people are being bad to their own people, lets just bomb all of them into the stone ages’
Nah dude
If hamas don’t play fair, why should Israel?
🙏 seek help
Ok child murder supporter
Ok
No argument, no sources - congratulations
This is weird. What is actually wrong with you? Go and touch some grass.
?
I would try to write up well-worded arguments backed up with valid sources, but…
I’d like to kindly remind you to piss off with your hypocrisy
If you want argument you’ll get an argument; if not, then go back to your echo chamber (It’s located right next to the chamber pot from which you enjoy your daily feed)
P.S. My sincerest apologies for the verbosity of the directions, but you seem to need it since you lack any
Haven’t received any arguments yet :shrug:
You think that Israel would be Ukraine in this analogy?
No analogy has 1:1 match but I think you get my point.
You see an article about a major tech company collaborating with a major world government, and you think the terrorist resistance cells living in dirt are the ones more capable of disseminating propaganda?
What if you’re the one who’s consumed the propaganda? Where’s the money, Larry?
I’m going to point you to the other comment I replied to here.
lol your other comment also just says “i wont engage”. you say the conversation is emotional but your replies have nothing but grandstanding. ive heard a lot of crazy unsubstantiated claims around Israel-Palestine, but the idea that accusations of innocents being murdered is hamas propaganda is possibly the craziest. what channels are the propagandists going through? whose support does hamas have to disseminate this propaganda? are we done with russian bots now we’re onto saudi bots?
i will gladly examine the sources of information and challenge my biases, but you’re gonna have to give me more to work with. we have a LOT of info on childrens hospitals being bombed, aid workers being executed, major US news outlets softballing their coverage, etc. What basis do we have to believe your claims? cuz i got news for you: saying that it was okay to bomb an entire children’s hospital because it was full of terrorists, that is the propaganda. hamas using civilians as a shield, israel blowing up civilians anyway, how can you point fingers at one and say “that’s fine”?
Hamas literally rely on people from other countries to support their terrorism and prevent israel from acting. Hamas themselves are too weak to win this. All the sad social media posts and shit - all intentional, all manipulative. Why don’t you go to palestine and bring justice yourself instead of complaining on the internet?
All the while they’re themselves engaging in a genocide on israelis. Read up on that. Hundreds of experts around the planet agree on that.
Why should israel play fair when hamas doesn’t? Hamas hides in hospitals, undeniably.
SHE needs to be DEPORTED to EL SALVADOR!
-Free Speech Loving CONservatives!
I know it’s supposed to be a joke. Doesn’t seem worth it.
yeah I agree. I do my best to avoid hearing these words when they come from loathsome people. Parroting them, even in jest, still means those ideas are being amplified.
Actually in French we label dumbasses as “Les cons”. It doesn’t have the meaning of being sneaky or cunning, it just means they’re morons. Pretty fitting
What a hero! I hope she is alright.
deleted by creator
Ballsy move. I hope she’s okay.
TL;DR: she works on the speech to text AI product on Azure, which is used by Israel for some of their operations.
Look, I understand her desire to stop fighting in Palestine, but by that logic, we should also be protesting every software and computer manufacturer.
Focus on the worst offenders and create pressure to stop them from being complicit in such crimes.
See https://bdsmovement.net/bds-guidelines/bds-guide-strategic-campaigning-palestinian-rights for the way to do targeted boycotts and their impact.
we should also be protesting every software and computer manufacturer.
Yep
By that logic, if it’s not practical to protest every single injustice in the world, we just shouldn’t bother.
I’d say genocide is a good place to start, wouldn’t you?
We should.
Protest the Linux Kernel cause they use it in North Korea and probably weapon systems around the world too?
nobody is profiting from that, so that’s not her point. Linux foundation isnt directly selling something used to detect a blow up kids
They are giving it away for free, which according to you is morally better than selling it? So if I make the AI, make it open source and somebody uses it to blow up kids I’m good. But if I sell it I’m evil?
The protest is also about computational resources, tech support hours, and not just source code. Anyone could download an open-source state-of-the-art multi-petabyte model given enough bandwidth and time, but not just anyone can run it
Although the documents do not specify how the different army units use these cloud storage and AI tools, they do indicate that about a third of the purchases were intended for “air-gapped” systems that are isolated from the internet and public networks, strengthening the possibility that the tools have been used for operational purposes — such as combat and intelligence — as opposed to simply logistical or bureaucratic functions. Indeed, two sources in Unit 8200 confirmed that the Military Intelligence Directorate purchased storage and AI services from Microsoft Azure for intelligence-gathering activities, and three other sources in the unit confirmed that similar services were purchased from Amazon’s cloud computing platform, AWS.
The documents further show that Microsoft personnel work closely with units in the Israeli army to develop products and systems. Dozens of units have purchased “extended engineering services” from Microsoft, in which, according to the company’s website, “Microsoft experts become an integral part of the [customer’s] team.”
The documents describe, for example, that in recent years the Military Intelligence Directorate has purchased private development meetings and professional workshops, which Microsoft’s experts have given to soldiers at a cost of millions of dollars. Between October 2023 and June 2024 alone, the Israeli Defense Ministry spent $10 million to purchase 19,000 hours of engineering support from Microsoft.
An intelligence officer who served in a technological role in Unit 8200 in recent years, and worked directly with Microsoft Azure employees before October 7 to develop a surveillance system used to monitor Palestinians, told +972 and Local Call that the company’s developers became so embedded that he referred to them as “people who are already working with the unit,” as if they were soldiers.Source: https://www.972mag.com/microsoft-azure-openai-israeli-army-cloud/
I get your point. But Microsoft knows exactly who is using their cloud and why (id proof and industry), vs something for everyone to grab (LF doesnt require id proof and industry). Microsoft is knowingly serving child murderers and it knows their tech is used to do exactly that.
You cannot ban kitchen knives because there were a mass stab, but you enforce strict background check so you dont sell rifles to school shooters.
In other words, impossible to enforce linux ban without removing the open source aspect of it and affect good people like, but totally possible just not serve somebody commiting a genocide.
This is an important distinction, and one I wasn’t aware of, that Microsoft know exactly who, where and when the AI is being used, and what exactly it is being used for: the genocide of Palestinians. And who knows what other genocides will follow.
I mean they sell to tons of military folks I assume. I know people didn’t sign up for it but the difference between genocide and military operation is purely what side you’re on. Also where do we draw the line? Windows use? Or just ai because of the mass surveillance capabilities? I can’t see that genie going back in the bottle.
Nothing wrong with the protest and good on them for getting the word out because the scale is crazy but we saw this same shit 20 years ago and nobody has the appetite to politically challenge the status quo so far as the intelligence community etc. and scummy use of technology.
Genocide vs military op depends on side? I am on neither side, an observer from outside and I can see one fully armed side holocausting another side for the past 70 years and making sure nobody from anywhere in the world complain about it through lobbying.
the difference between genocide and military operation is purely what side you’re on.
The difference between rape and a good time is also purely what side you’re on.
North Korea isn’t bombing civilians population
Someone please tell me how Valve is killing children? They only got them addicted to loot boxes. Nobody has died. 🙄 /s
We don’t know what GabeN does on his yachts
She’s mostly asking her coworkers to speak up.
GOOD FOR THEM. I AM SO PROUD OF THEM
That’s a really long email.
LinkedIn just deleted her profile, I was following her yesterday: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ibtihalaboussad
Makes sense its owned by MS
Or she set it to private because she was overwhelmed with the messages she was getting.
LinkedIn as in the website owned by Microsoft? You don’t say!
And Microsoft will now just make sure she vant find a job anywhere? You don’t say
deleted by creator
Holy shit, I remember playing NationStates as a youngling, and I think I read the book too? Idk, it’s been 20 years.
Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives
deleted by creator
Lmao. These are crazy billionaire pipe dreams.
Humans survive through community. Their wealth doesn’t mean shit.
deleted by creator
IMO since they can’t even seem to wipe their own asses without us the rich will never be self sufficient or self sustaining on their own.
deleted by creator
You’re sure she didn’t delete it herself due to the attention she was probably getting?
Could be she set it to private. It’s what I did when I left my last gig.
Of course they’re not sure. This is an internet forum. The account being gone must mean it was deleted. Honestly, she was probably getting so much bat shit crazy messages, she deleted it herself. That makes the most sense.
3rd citation is a reference to Micro
deleted by creator
Goes to prove that LinkedIn is just exactly like every other social media platform despite what many people seem to believe.
Also, Microsoft owns LinkedIn so that might have something to do with it.
Wow.
Is there a go fund me for her?
The email the employee sent, apologies for any formatting errors:
Hi all, As you might have just seen on the livestream or witnessed in person, I disrupted the speech of Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman during the highly-anticipated 50th anniversary celebration. Here’s why. My name is Ibtihal, and for the past 3.5 years, I’ve been a software engineer on Microsoft’s AI Platform org. 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. For the past year and a half, our Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim community at Microsoft has been silenced, intimidated, harassed, and doxxed, with impunity from Microsoft. Attempts at speaking up at best fell on deaf ears, and at worst, led to the firing of two employees for simply holding a vigil. There was simply no other way to make our voices heard.
We are witnessing a genocide For the past 1.5 years, I’ve witnessed the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people by Israel. I’ve seen unspeakable suffering amidst Israel’s mass human rights violations - indiscriminate carpet bombings, the targeting of hospitals and schools, and the continuation of an apartheid state - all of which have been condemned globally by the UN, ICC, and ICJ, and numerous human rights organizations. The images of innocent children covered in ash and blood, the wails of mourning parents, and the destruction of entire families and communities have forever fractured me.
At the time of writing, Israel has resumed its full-scale genocide in Gaza, which has so far killed by some estimates over 300,000 Gazans in the past 1.5 year alone. Just days ago, it was revealed that Israel killed fifteen paramedics and rescue workers in Gaza, executing them “one by one,” before burying them in the sand – yet another horrific war crime. All the while, our “responsible” AI work powers this surveillance and murder. The United Nations and the International Court of Justice have concluded that this is a genocide, with the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.
We are Complicit When I moved to AI Platform, I was excited to contribute to cutting-edge AI technology and its applications for the good of humanity: accessibility products, translation services, and tools to “empower every human and organization to achieve more.” I was not informed that Microsoft would sell my work to the Israeli military and government, with the purpose of spying on and murdering journalists, doctors, aid workers, and entire civilian families. If I knew my work on transcription scenarios would help spy on and transcribe phone calls to better target Palestinians (source), I would not have joined this organization and contributed to genocide. I did not sign up to write code that violates human rights.
According to AP news, there is “a $133 million contract between Microsoft and Israel’s Ministry of Defense.”
“The Israeli military’s usage of Microsoft and OpenAI artificial intelligence spiked last March to nearly 200 times higher than before the week leading up to the Oct. 7 attack. The amount of data it stored on Microsoft servers doubled between that time and July 2024 to more than 13.6 petabytes.”
“The Israeli military uses Microsoft Azure to compile information gathered through mass surveillance, which it transcribes and translates, including phone calls, texts and audio messages, according to an Israeli intelligence officer who works with the systems. That data can then be cross-checked with Israel’s in-house targeting systems.” Microsoft AI also powers the most “sensitive and highly classified projects” for the Israeli military, including its “target bank” and the Palestinian population registry. Microsoft cloud and AI enabled the Israeli military to be more lethal and destructive in Gaza than they otherwise could.
Microsoft has also been providing software, cloud services, and consulting services to the Israeli military and government, totaling millions in profit. War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu has explicitly mentioned his strong ties to Microsoft. A list of these contracts with the Israeli military and government can be found here: An Introduction to Microsoft’s Complicity in Apartheid and Genocide
In fact, Microsoft is so deeply connected to the Israeli military that it was just yesterday designated one of the priority boycott targets of the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) campaign.
Regardless of your political stances, is this the legacy we want to leave behind? Is working on deadly AI weapons something you can tell your children about? Do we want to be on the wrong side of history?
Even though your work could be unrelated to the cloud that the military uses, your work benefits the company and allows it to take on the contract. Regardless of your team, you serve a company that is arming the Israeli occupation. It is undeniable that part of your compensation, no matter how small, is being paid by genocide.
Whether you work on AI or not, you will be complicit if you do nothing. It is now OUR job to take a vocal stand against Microsoft AI’s involvement in crimes against humanity. This is why I decided to speak up today, and why I signed this important petition to demand Microsoft cut ties with genocide. And I urge you all to do the same.
Call to Action
Silence is complicity. But action always has a reaction, no matter how big or small. As workers for this company, we must make our voices heard, and demand that Microsoft does the right thing: stop selling technology to the Israeli military.
If you are also concerned about this news, and you also want your work to be used ethically, I urge you to take action: Sign the No Azure for Apartheid petition: We will not write code that kills. And join the campaign to add your voice to the growing number of concerned Microsoft employees. Join me in showing our discontent in this thread. If you also feel tricked into deploying weapons which target children and civilians, urge leadership (CC’ed) to drop these contracts.
Don’t stop speaking up. Urge SLT to drop these contracts at every opportunity. Start conversations with your co-workers about the points above - so many employees may not know!
Microsoft’s human rights statement prohibits retaliation against anyone who raises a human rights-related concern: Human rights statement | Microsoft CSR
Our company has precedents in supporting human rights, including divestment from apartheid South Africa and dropping contracts with AnyVision (Israeli facial recognition startup), after Microsoft employee and community protests. My hope is that our collective voices will motivate our AI leaders to do the same, and correct Microsoft’s actions regarding these human rights violations, to avoid a stained legacy. Microsoft Cloud and AI should stop being the bombs and bullets of the 21st century.
Sincerely, A concerned Microsoft employee
Thank you. Tried visiting the archive page but it blocked me and ironically enough wanted me to solve a captcha that’ll be used to train “AI.”
Thank you.
What’s the solution to lasting peace? Restore rule to the Ottomans or British?
One State. Simple
One state, immediately in the state of civil war where one side has access to the most money and the best weapons? I gave up on this idea after seeing the effects of this current war. Either one side will eliminate the other or a bigger country will rule both of them as if they are children incapable of running their own lives. Is there a reasonable plan for peace other than these?
You need peace / security, a modicum of prosperity, and education / information from independent news. There are no shortcuts.
Basically both Israel and Palestine are fucked because of decades of neglect and neoliberal and racist policies.
I mean, it’s not like there wasn’t a technically-still-binding treaty for a 2-state solution, which would still be a working compromise for both sides (even though Israel would, by now, have to become Germany 2.0 in terms of self-awareness and lasting change to be even remotely trusted by its neighbors)… which gets completely ignored and pissed on by Israel…
You’d basically need to de-nazify Israel and occupy it by some benevolent, nation building world police. Show the horror in documentaries, re-educate, rebuild the democratic institutions like news and social media. Obviously a pipe dream.
Maybe give the decision to the people who resided in this land before the Ottomans or British put the intentionally divisive borders that they’d come up with?
Yeah, there were never any wars in the middle east before the Ottomans or British came along. Right? Right!?
There has always been combat literally everywhere with humans. The main difference is that the decision to take part in that war was not already made on the people’s behalf by the US through the puppet governance they admitted to have placed their.
Especially when that decision usually benefit the US significantly by having the other country is in a state that allows additional control by the US.
I’m pretty sure most of those people are dead.
How is that a reasonable approach? How would that solve anything?
You can’t bomb a place or rape its people into stability. We have 200 years of hard evidence for that (not that it was needed). Literally any other approach would be beneficial for everyone except the war profiteers
I don’t think their goal is stability. It is elimination. And the same would be true if the situation reversed. So either that’s what eventually happens or a bigger power steps in and rules them like children.
Step 1: stop carpet bombing civilians
She’s about to be so fired. I wish her the best.
Hopefully only fired.
She has a very sought after skillset. It might be rough for awhile but she’ll land on her feet. Her time at the Big 5 is done but they’re all evil anyway.
I think a lot of companies will see her name in a google search, think “risk” and disqualify her
Then Trump will deport her.
Software engineers are in oversupply these days
Yeah, I’m honestly surprised she was allowed to login to a msft computer again. Bc corporations historically suck.
Edit: clarification.
I think she had prepared things before and moved quickly. I am amazed by her braveness and dedication and hope to improve by her example. I hope i can honor her commitment a tiny bit by working to further reduce my microsoft usage.
I drastically reduced it by switching to Linux.
She was fired just recently. I am surprised it took so long. I guess they wanted the news cycle to die down.
