this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2025
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A Microsoft employee disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary event to protest its use of AI.

“Shame on you,” said Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad, speaking directly to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. “You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide. Stop using AI for genocide in our region. You have blood on your hands. All of Microsoft has blood on its hands. How dare you all celebrate when Microsoft is killing children. Shame on you all.”

Sources at Microsoft tell The Verge that shortly after Aboussad was ushered out of Microsoft’s event, she sent an email to a number of email distribution lists that contain hundreds or thousands of Microsoft employees. Here is Aboussad’s email in full:

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[–] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 34 points 21 hours ago (6 children)

Can anyone ELI5 how they're using AI for genocide? I have awful IT skills so I don't understand AI

[–] GreyAlien@lemm.ee 53 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

In long.

In short:

The AI system labeled tens of thousands of Gazans, mostly men, as suspected militants, with a 10% error rate, meaning thousands were likely civilians.

Human officers spent ~20 seconds per target, often just confirming gender, before approving airstrikes.

"Where’s Daddy?": A companion AI tracked targets to their homes, prioritizing bombings at night when families were present.

The military authorized 15–20 civilian deaths per low-ranking militant and 100+ for senior Hamas officials

Strikes frequently used unguided munitions, maximizing destruction and civilian harm

Officers admitted acting as "stamps" for AI decisions, with one calling the process "hunting at large"

Additional informations: Project Nimbus

[–] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Holy fuck!

That's fucking awful!

[–] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 14 points 14 hours ago

this is comedically evil I don't even know what to say

[–] tauren@lemm.ee 31 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

From the article:

The Israeli military uses Microsoft Azure to compile information gathered through mass surveillance, which it transcribes and translates, including phone calls, texts and audio messages, according to an Israeli intelligence officer who works with the systems.

From my understanding, they use AI to automate the processing of text, audio, and video data collected by the intelligence services.

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 12 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Stop believing in the veneer of smartness and superiority around these genocidal fuckers.

There is no NON ELI5 explanation here of how they're using AI for genocide, because the truth is horrible, stupid and brutal.

They are using AI because it is the best tool bullshitters have currently to offload blame for things they, individual human beings, chose to do onto obscure abstract entities like corporations, AI decisions and other bullshit.

There is nothing more to it than that, I promise you, it is all just layers of bullshit that is attempting to obscure culpability for participating in a genocide, and honestly it is the perfect technology for that.

[–] Realitaetsverlust@lemmy.zip 28 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

AI is being pushed into war machines big time. America and China are both working on it. With ukraine showing how incredibly effective drones are in warfare, just imagine the damage and destruction a swarm of drones controlled by an AI could cause.

[–] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 13 points 19 hours ago

Its scary and awful

[–] TheFriar@lemm.ee 30 points 21 hours ago (2 children)
[–] ganbramor@lemmy.world 17 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

But critics warn the [AI] system is unproven at best — and at worst, providing a technological justification for the killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

This 2023 article didn’t age well.

[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 6 points 16 hours ago

The critics were right

[–] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 16 points 21 hours ago

Fucking hell that's bad

[–] j0ester@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

There are also many higher education professors doing smart drones. I was in one conference and they were showing off drones flying by themselves and showed the difference between different weather and everything.