Microsoft Employees Protest Selling AI to Israel

Microsoft kicked five employees out of a town hall event yesterday because they were protesting the company’s contracts with the Israeli military. Microsoft is providing artificial intelligence models to the Israeli military to help them fight its wars in Gaza and Lebanon, a business move that’s seen as a moral stain on the company by some of its employees.

On February 25, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was on hand at the company’s campus in Redmond, Washington to talk about new products. On the balcony above him, five workers stood in a line wearing a series of coordinated shirts that spelled out Satya’s name and asked the question: “Does our code kill kids?”

Despite standing silently – the workers were swiftly removed by Microsoft Security and barred from re-entering their own town hall event. pic.twitter.com/3uezvCyHLZ

— No Azure for Apartheid (@NoAz4Apartheid) February 25, 2025

Nadella never acknowledged the protestors and they were quietly escorted out of the event by security. “We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard,” Microsoft said in a statement about the protests. “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. We are committed to ensuring our business practices uphold the highest standards.”

But what about the question: “Does our code kill kids?”

According to reporting from the Associated Press and Drop Site News, the answer is probably yes. Microsoft has a $133 million contract with the Israeli military to provide the Israeli military with access to OpenAI models through Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform. The Israeli military then uses these models to help it make decisions about where and when to aim its airstrikes in Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel’s use of Azure spiked after Hamas attacked the country on October 7, 2023. The Israeli military feeds massive amounts of surveillance data into Microsoft Azure and then uses its AI models to sift through the information and determine adequate targeting locations. Israel told the Associated Press that it’s been doing this for years, but that a human always makes the final decision to strike a location. A lot of children have died in those strikes.

Not all Microsoft employees are comfortable with the company profiting off of Israel’s war in Gaza. The protest movement is called No Azure for Apartheid. “Microsoft profits from genocide,” it said in a post on Instagram. “As revealed in the [AP investigation], the Israeli military is Microsoft’s second-largest military customer after the US…the Israeli military is one of the strategically most important Microsoft customers and receives top priority technical services and support.”

No Azure for Apartheid published a list of demands in a blog post last year. It wants Microsoft to end its Azure contracts with the Israeli military, disclose all its ties with the country’s military, call for a ceasefire, protect employees, and uphold free speech. In October last year, after these demands were published, Microsoft fired two employees who organized a vigil at the company’s headquarters for Palestinians killed in Gaza.

The pain and suffering inflicted on Gaza using AI doesn’t end with Microsoft. On Tuesday night, hours after the protestors were kicked out of the town hall, President Trump posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social. Since his inauguration, Trump has said he’d like to take over Gaza and turn it into a resort. The video he posted showed what that might look like.

The AI-slop video is beyond offensive. Elon Musk stands under a shower of money while a song plays. “No more tunnels, no more fear, club gaza is finally here.” In one shot, people mill around a cityscape that looks like Los Angeles while a giant golden statue of Trump looms over them.