Microsoft AI chief's speech interrupted by pro-Palestinian protester

April 4 (Reuters) - Microsoft's AI chief Mustafa Suleyman was interrupted by a pro-Palestinian protester during a ceremony marking the tech company's 50th anniversary on Friday over the company's ties to Israel.

"You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide," Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad said at the event in Redmond, Washington, interrupting Suleyman as he spoke about the company's artificial intelligence assistant product.

Suleyman responded: "I hear your objections, thank you." The protester was later escorted out.

An Associated Press investigation revealed that AI models from Microsoft and OpenAI were used as part of an Israeli military program to select bombing targets during the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Many other companies and educational institutions have also faced protests over their ties to Israel as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from Israel's military offensive has grown.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023, when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

Israel's subsequent assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and sparked accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies. The offensive has displaced nearly 2.3 million Gazans and sparked a hunger crisis.

The Verge, a tech news site, cited an email Aboussad, the protesting employee, sent to other Microsoft employees to justify her protest.

Microsoft said it had provided multiple avenues for all voices to be heard in a way that did not disrupt business.

Aboussad was quoted by the AP as saying that she and another protesting employee had lost access to their work accounts following the protest.