The Microsoft Build developer conference experienced another disruption on its second day when a protester identified as a Palestinian tech worker interrupted a keynote address by Jay Parikh, the company’s head of CoreAI. Parikh was discussing Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry initiatives when the protester expressed concerns regarding Microsoft’s collaborations with the Israeli government.
“Jay! My people are suffering!” the protester shouted. “Cut ties! No Azure for apartheid! Free, free Palestine!”
Security quickly removed the protester from the event while he continued to raise his voice against Parikh, urging him to sever Microsoft’s connections with Israel. Hossam Nasr, an organizer with the group No Azure for Apartheid, confirmed in an interview with Technology News that the protester received support from the organization, which has been involved in organizing demonstrations at Microsoft events in recent weeks. While Nasr did not disclose the protester’s name, he confirmed that he is a Palestinian tech worker.
On the previous day, Microsoft employee Joe Lopez had similarly disrupted the keynote while CEO Satya Nadella was speaking. Although Parikh paused in his address, Nadella continued as Lopez and another former Google employee protested against Microsoft’s AI and cloud agreements with the Israeli government. Following the keynote, Lopez sent an email to thousands of his colleagues at Microsoft, urging them to voice their concerns. “If we continue to remain silent, we will pay for that silence with our humanity,” he stated.
Parikh resumed his presentation shortly after, struggling briefly with his words before a colleague took the stage to continue with the AI developer topic. Parikh joined Microsoft in October and has been assigned by Nadella to lead the development of AI platforms and tools for future applications. He previously played a key role in shaping the engineering culture at Meta, formerly known as Facebook.
This latest protest follows Microsoft’s announcement last week regarding an internal review and an external assessment of how its technology is employed in the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The company stated that its partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Defense (IMOD) operates as a standard commercial agreement, emphasising that no evidence has been found indicating that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies, nor any other software, have contributed to harm or that IMOD has violated its terms of service or AI Code of Conduct.
Previously, two former Microsoft employees disrupted the company’s 50th-anniversary celebration, with one labeling Microsoft’s AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, a “war profiteer” and calling for the cessation of using AI in what the protester described as genocide.
