Hello everyone,
As you could just see live or in person, I disturbed the speech of the general director Microsoft Ai Mustafy Suleyman during the highly expected celebration of the 50th anniversary. Here’s why.
My name is Ibtihal, and for the last 3.5 years I have been a software engineer on the AI Microsoft ORG platform. I talked today because after finding out that my org was driving the genocide of my people in Palestine, I saw no other moral choice. This is especially true when I was witnessing how Microsoft tried to suppress and suppress all opposition from my colleagues who tried to raise this problem. Over the past one and a half years, our Arab, Palestinian and Muslim community in Microsoft has been muted, intimidated, harassed and Doksxed, with impunity with impunity Microsoft. Attempts to speak at best fell into the deaf ears, and in the worst case they led to the dismissal of two employees for the usual vigil. There was simply no other way to hear our voices.
We are witnessing genocide
Over the past 1.5 years I have witnessed the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian nation by Israel. I saw unspeakable suffering among mass violations of human rights in Israel – non -discriminating attacks on the carpet, aiming at hospitals and schools, and continuation of the Apartheid – all of which were condemned all over the world by the UN, ICC and ICJ and numerous human rights organizations. Images of innocent children covered with ash and blood, the funeral parents’ switches and the destruction of entire families and communities broke me forever.
At the time of writing, Israel resumed his full -scale genocide in gas, which until now killed over 300,000 gases in the last 1.5 years. Just a few days ago it was revealed that Israel killed fifteen paramedics and rescuers in Gaza, performing them “one after the other” before he buried them in the sand – another terrifying war crime. All the time our “responsible” work and meets this supervision and murder. The United Nations and the International Court of Justice came to the conclusion that it was genocide, and the International Criminal Court issued arrest orders for Israeli leaders.
We are comprehensive
When I moved to the AI platform, I was excited that I could contribute to the latest AI technology and its applications for the good of humanity: availability products, translation services and tools to “enable every person and organization to achieve more”. I have not been informed that Microsoft would sell my work to the Israeli military and the government in order to spy on and murder journalists, doctors, facilitate employees and the entire civil family. If I knew that my work on transcription scenarios would facilitate spy on and prescribe phone calls to better aim at Palestinians (source), I would not join this organization and contribute to genocide. I did not sign up to write a code that violates human rights.
According to AP News, there is a “contract worth $ 133 million between Microsoft and the Ministry of Defense of Israel.”
“The use of the Israeli army by Microsoft and OpenAi. Artificial intelligence increased in March last year to almost 200 times higher than a week preceding October 7. The amount of data stored on Microsoft servers doubled from that time to July 2024 to over 13.6 petabayes.”
“The Israeli army is used by Microsoft Azure for compilation of information collected by mass supervision, which translates and explains, including telephone connections, SMSs and audio messages, according to an Israeli intelligence officer who works with systems. Data can then be checked in the case of Israeli managing systems.”
Microsoft AI also sits the most “sensitive and highly classified projects” for the Israeli army, including the “target bank” and the Palestinian population register. Microsoft Cloud and AI enabled the Israeli military to be more fatal and destructive in gas than otherwise.
Microsoft also provides software, cloud and consultation services for the Israeli army and government, which is a total of millions of profit. War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu clearly mentioned his robust connections with Microsoft. List of these contracts with the Israeli army and government can be found here: Introduction to Microsoft’s participation in apartheid and genocide
In fact, Microsoft is so deeply connected with the Israeli army that he was appointed yesterday for one of the priority BDS boycottical goals (boycott, sale, sanctions).
Is it regardless of your political attitudes, is it a heritage we want to leave? Is working on AI’s deadly weapons that you can tell your children about? Do we want to be on the bad side of the story?
Although your work may be unrelated to the cloud that the army uses, your work benefits the company and allows you to undertake a contract. Regardless of your team, you support a company that will arm Israeli occupation. It is undeniable that part of your compensation, no matter how diminutive it is paid by genocide.
Regardless of whether you are working on artificial intelligence or not, you will be complicit if you do nothing. Our task is to stand vocal against Microsoft AI’s involvement in crimes against humanity.
That is why I decided to speak and why I signed this vital petition to demand Microsoft Creed Ties with genocide. And I call you all to do the same.
Call action
Silence is a participation. But action always has a reaction, no matter how large or diminutive. As employees of this company, we must hear our voices and demand that Microsoft act properly: Stop selling Israeli military technology.
If you are also worried about these messages, and also want your work to be used ethically, I encourage you to take action:
Sign the petition No Azure for Apartheid: We will not write a code that kills. And join the campaign to add your voice to the growing number of Microsoft interested employees.
Join me, showing our dissatisfaction in this thread. If you also feel cheated in arranging weapons, which is addressed to children and civilians, call for leadership (CC’ed) to lose these contracts.
Don’t stop talking. Encourage SLT to lose these contracts at every opportunity.
Start talks with colleagues about the above points – so many employees may not know!
Microsoft’s statement of human rights prohibits retaliation against anyone who raises the fear of human rights: a statement of human rights | Microsoft CSR
Our company has a precedent in supporting human rights, including the sale from Apartheid, South Africa, and dropping contracts from Anyvision (Israeli startup of the face recognition), after protests of employee and Microsoft employee and community. I hope that our collective voices will motivate our AI leaders to do the same and improve the activities of Microsoft regarding these violations of human rights to avoid stained heritage. Microsoft Cloud and AI should cease to be bombs and balls of the 21st century.
Kind regards,
Interested Microsoft employee