Vaniya Agrawal, an Indian-American notorious for the disruption of Microsoft events in protest against the contracts of the technical giant with the Israeli government, again interrupted the proceedings-this time at the Microsoft Build 2025 conference in Seattle. Another former employee, Hossam Nasr, joined her to continue her demonstration. The high-profile AI security session was suddenly interrupted on day three of the conference during a chapter led by Neta Haihy, Microsoft’s head of AI Security, and Sarah Bird, head of responsible AI. Agrawal and Nasr entered the venue and accused the company loudly of complicity in the ongoing war in Gaza, demanding that Microsoft break its ties with the Israeli army. The protest march was the third consecutive day of disruptions at the Build 2025 event. On May 19, a Microsoft employee interrupted the chief of CEO Satya Nadella and criticized the company’s relationship with Israel. The next day, a Palestinian technical professional disrupted a session led by Jay Parikh, executive vice president of Microsoft Corea, who urged the company to cut a ties with Israel during his Azure Ai presentation. Not her first protest. This latest disruption is not the first time Vaniya Agrawal protested during a Microsoft event. The confrontation at Microsoft’s headquarters in April confronted Agrawal – then an engineer in the AI division of Microsoft – the company’s current and former CEOs, Satya Nadella, Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates, in his headquarters in Washington. She accused them of using Microsoft’s technology to support what she described as ‘genocide in the Gaza strip’. After the confrontation, Agrawal filed a strongly worded letter of resignation, and announced that her last day April 11 would be, a few days after the incident. In her letter, she wrote that she could no longer work for a company that she said was opposed to oppressors rather than standing in Solidarity with the oppressed. Agrawal also criticized that Microsoft’s $ 133 million contract was reported with Israel’s defense ministry, claiming that the company’s AI and Azure cloud services were directly possible military action against Palestinians. “Microsoft Cloud and AI make the Israeli army more deadly and destructive in Gaza,” she wrote in an email with a company shortly after confronting the CEO on stage. Agrawal joined Microsoft in September 2023 after more than three years at Amazon and worked in the AI division. After the April protest march, Microsoft rejected two employees – including Agrawal – who disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary event. The company described their actions as “hostile, unspoken and very inappropriate”.
Vaniya Agrawal, Indian-Origin Techie, disrupts Microsoft event over Gaza again | Here’s what happened | Today news
