Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration took an unexpected turn on April 4 (Friday) when a pro-Palestinian protest disrupted a keynote speech by the company’s AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. The protest was part of growing backlash over the tech industry’s involvement in supplying AI tools to the Israeli military amid the ongoing Gaza conflict.
The protest started during Suleyman’s presentation about product updates and Microsoft’s long-term vision for its AI assistant, Copilot. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former CEO Steve Ballmer, and current CEO Satya Nadella were seated in the audience when the protest happened.
A Microsoft employee, Ibtihal Aboussad, interrupted the speech by shouting, “Mustafa, shame on you,” before walking toward the stage. Suleyman briefly paused as she continued: “You claim to care about 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.”
Ibtihal Aboussad added, “Stop using AI for genocide,” and threw a keffiyeh— which has become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity— onto the stage.
someone suddenly started shouting during Mustafa Suleyman’s speech at Microsoft’s 50th Anniversary Copilot live event, where Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were also in the audience. pic.twitter.com/9M0ebtpoNZ
— G (@beforeagi) April 4, 2025
While Ibtihal Aboussad disrupted the event, AI CEO Suleyman remained calm, and responded, “Thank you for your protest, I hear you,”. Meanwhile, Aboussad continued to accuse him and Microsoft of having “blood on their hands.”
Later in the event, another employee, Vaniya Agrawal, also staged a protest— this time during a segment that featured all three of Microsoft’s CEOs: Gates, Ballmer, and Nadella. It was the first time the trio had appeared on stage together since 2014.
These protests follow an Associated Press investigation earlier this year that revealed AI models developed by Microsoft and OpenAI were reportedly used by the Israeli military to help identify bombing targets in Gaza and Lebanon. One such instance in 2023 involved a tragic airstrike that mistakenly killed three children and their grandmother in Lebanon.
How Microsoft responded to the protests
While the company hasn’t confirmed any disciplinary action, both Aboussad and Agrawal lost access to their work accounts shortly after the event, reports suggest. Aboussad told AP they haven’t been contacted by Microsoft since and suspect they may have been terminated.
