Protesters suspended Microsoft’s co-pilot-centered keynote speech on Friday afternoon, bringing attention to reported deals with Israeli forces.
“I’ll put you ashamed,” the protesters said. “You claim to care about using AI forever, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military… Everything at Microsoft has blood in its hands.”
Consumer AI Mustafa Suleyman’s Microsoft head of Mustafa Suleyman has responded several times, “Thank you for listening to the protest,” although some of the keynote speeches were interrupted by protesters.
In February, The Associated Press reported that sophisticated AI models from Microsoft and Openai, close collaborators, were used as part of the Israeli military programme to select bombing targets during the recent wars in Gaza and Lebanon. The false bombing reportedly led to the deaths of several young girls and their grandmother.
Several protests have been made by the company’s own employees over alleged involvement by Microsoft.
12:20pm Pacific: The second protester interrupted the panel discussion with CEO Satyanadella and former CEO Steve Balmer and Bill Gates in keynote speeches. Verge reports that both protests have been coordinated by Apartheid’s Azure No Azure, a long-term move among some Microsoft employees.
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