Latest news with #MicrosoftBuild2025
Hans India
12 hours ago
- Business
- Hans India
Microsoft lays off more employees after huge job cut in AI era
New Delhi: Tech giant Microsoft has cut hundreds of more jobs just weeks after reducing nearly 3 per cent of its global workforce in the AI era. As per a filing with Washington state's Employment Security Department, 305 additional employees in Redmond, Washington have been asked to leave. A company spokesperson said in a statement the latest headcount reduction is in addition to the 6,000 job cuts announced last month, which is roughly 3 per cent of its global workforce. "We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace," the spokesperson was quoted as saying in reports. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that the recent layoffs were not linked to employee performance but due to organisational restructuring. Addressing staff during a town-hall meeting, Nadella said the layoffs were necessary to realign teams in accordance with Microsoft's evolving priorities, particularly its growing focus on artificial intelligence. He acknowledged the emotional toll of the decision but underscored that it was driven by strategic shifts, not shortcomings in productivity or talent. Last month, Frank X Shaw, Chief Communications Officer, Microsoft, said that 'We've entered the era of AI agents'. 'Thanks to groundbreaking advancements in reasoning and memory, AI models are now more capable and efficient, and we're seeing how AI systems can help us all solve problems in new ways. For example, 15 million developers are already using GitHub Copilot, and features like agent mode and code review are streamlining the way they code, check, deploy and troubleshoot,' he said during the 'Microsoft Build 2025' event. Hundreds of thousands of customers are using Microsoft 365 Copilot to help research, brainstorm and develop solutions, and more than 230,000 organisations — including 90 per cent of the Fortune 500 — have already used Copilot Studio to build AI agents and automations.
Associated Press
27-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Deep Intelligent Pharma Unleashes a New Era of AI-Driven Drug Development at Microsoft Build 2025
Singapore, May 27, 2025 -- Deep Intelligent Pharma (DIP) has officially launched a groundbreaking generative AI platform that promises to redefine how the world develops medicine. Unveiled today at Microsoft Build 2025, where DIP was the exclusive presenter from Asia, the new solution represents a bold leap forward in the fusion of AI and life science innovation. Built in partnership with Microsoft Azure O3, DIP's next-gen platform harnesses multi-agent AI swarms capable of performing scientific writing, statistical reasoning, document validation, and regulatory compliance with superhuman scale and precision. It directly targets one of the most expensive, slow, and error-prone challenges in pharma: the creation of clinical and regulatory documents. 'This isn't just an upgrade — it's a reinvention of how life science companies operate,' said Xing Li, CEO of DIP. 'We've turned months of expert labor into minutes of AI-driven intelligence — bringing speed, accuracy, and scientific depth into perfect alignment.' A Paradigm Shift in Life Science R&D The DIP platform is designed to eliminate the longstanding bottlenecks of pharmaceutical development: Real Results, Real Impact At Build, DIP showcased a live case study in which its AI-authored protocol for a novel cancer immunotherapy was approved by Japan's PMDA with zero revisions — in a single review cycle. The message was clear: generative AI isn't the future of pharma — it's happening now. With over 1,000 pharma clients, 20,000+ submission projects, and 5 billion words processed, DIP is already trusted by industry leaders across Asia and beyond. And now, it's setting a new global standard for how data becomes discovery. Transforming the Economics of Innovation With drug development costs surpassing $2 billion per therapy and timelines stretching 10–15 years, DIP's AI orchestration radically accelerates innovation — helping companies reinvest resources into science instead of paperwork. 'This is AI that thinks like a scientist, writes like a regulator, and moves at the speed of discovery,' added Shinya Yamamoto. 'We're not just helping companies go faster — we're helping them aim higher.' About Deep Intelligent Pharma Founded in 2017, Deep Intelligent Pharma is a pioneering AI company with global offices in Japan, China, and Singapore. Its mission is to empower pharmaceutical and medtech innovators through intelligent automation, turning regulatory complexity into a catalyst for speed, scale, and scientific excellence. DIP has built agent swarms based on generative AI models with outcome based payment model in life science R&D. Contact Info: Name: Xing Li Email: Send Email Organization: Deep Intelligent Pharma Website: Release ID: 89160572 Should you identify any discrepancies, concerns, or inaccuracies in the content provided in this press release or require assistance with a press release takedown, we strongly urge you to notify us promptly by contacting [email protected] (it is important to note that this email is the authorized channel for such matters, sending multiple emails to multiple addresses does not necessarily help expedite your request). Our responsive team is committed to addressing your concerns within 8 hours by taking necessary actions to resolve identified issues diligently or guiding you through the necessary steps for removal. Our dedication lies in providing accurate and reliable information.
India Today
27-05-2025
- Business
- India Today
Microsoft fires employee who interrupted CEO Satya Nadella at Build to protest company's Israel business
Microsoft has fired the employee who disrupted CEO Satya Nadella's speech during the Microsoft Build 2025 event last week. The employee, Joe Lopez, who was a firmware engineer in Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure (AHSI), had interrupted Nadella's speech saying: 'Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians?' 'How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?' He was escorted out of the event immediately after this. advertisementLopez's pro-Palestine protest at the event was followed by a number of other disruptions at the Build 2025 event. According to a report by the Associated Press, at least three addresses during the event were disrupted by pro-Palestine protests. Reportedly, protesters also gathered outside the Build 2025 venue in Seattle. Soon after being escorted out of the event, Lopez also sent out a mass email to his colleagues explaining why he interrupted the event and disputing Microsoft's claims of how Azure is being used in Gaza. He says that as one of the 'largest companies in the world, Microsoft has immeasurable power to do the right thing'. He wrote that the company has the power to 'demand an end to this senseless tragedy'. 'I can no longer stand by in silence as Microsoft continues to facilitate Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people,' Lopez wrote. advertisement'Microsoft openly admitted to allowing the Israel Ministry of Defence 'special access to our technologies beyond the terms of our commercial agreements'. Do you really believe that this 'special access' was allowed only once? What sort of 'special access' do they really need? And what are they doing with it,' Lopez added in the the email, Lopez also addressed Microsoft's recent blog post where the company claims that it conducted an internal audit which found 'no evidence to date that Microsoft's Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict in Gaza'.Lopez said that Microsoft's statement 'falls far short of what we are demanding. Non-transparent audits into our cloud operations in Israel (conducted by no other than Microsoft itself and an unnamed external entity) that declare no wrongdoing by the company do not give me any sense of relief. In fact, this response has further compelled me to speak out'. 'We don't need an internal audit to know that a top Azure customer is committing crimes against humanity. We see it live on the internet every day,' his email disruption questioning Microsoft's work with Israel military wasn't the first instance that a company's employee has done a public protest. In April, Indian-origin Vaniya Agrawal interrupted Satya Nadella, Steve Ballmer, and Bill Gates at the company's 50th anniversary celebration over the company's alleged involvement in Israel's war on Gaza. 'It is undeniable that Microsoft's Azure cloud offerings and AI developments form the technological backbone of Israel's automated apartheid and genocide systems,' she wrote in a a day before Agrawal's protest, another Microsoft engineer, Ibtihal Aboussad, had disrupted Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman's speech at the Microsoft AI event saying, 'Mustafa, shame on you'.Both of them were fired. Last week, Microsoft reportedly quietly started filtering internal emails that contain words like 'Palestine,' 'Gaza,' and 'genocide,' to prevent any conversation around these topics being circulated on the company's Exchange servers.
Mint
23-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Vaniya Agrawal, Indian-origin techie, disrupts Microsoft event over Gaza again
Vaniya Agrawal, an Indian-American infamous for disrupting Microsoft events in protest against the tech giant's contracts with the Israeli government, once again interrupted proceedings – this time at the Microsoft Build 2025 conference in Seattle. She was joined by another former employee, Hossam Nasr, in continuing her demonstration. The high-profile AI security session was abruptly interrupted on day three of the conference during a keynote led by Neta Haiby, Microsoft's Head of AI Security, and Sarah Bird, Head of Responsible AI. Agrawal and Nasr entered the venue and loudly accused the company of complicity in the ongoing war in Gaza, demanding that Microsoft sever its ties with the Israeli military. The protest marked the third consecutive day of disruptions at the Build 2025 event. On May19, a Microsoft employee interrupted CEO Satya Nadella's keynote speech, criticising the company's relationship with Israel. The following day, a Palestinian tech professional disrupted a session led by Jay Parikh, Executive Vice President of Microsoft CoreAI, urging the company to 'cut ties' with Israel during his Azure AI presentation. This latest disruption is not the first time Vaniya Agrawal has protested at a Microsoft event. In April, Agrawal -- then an engineer in Microsoft's AI division -- confronted the company's current and former CEOs, Satya Nadella, Steve Ballmer, and Bill Gates, at its headquarters in Washington. She accused them of using Microsoft's technology to support what she described as "genocide in the Gaza Strip". Following the confrontation, Agrawal submitted a strongly worded resignation letter, announcing her final day would be 11 April, just days after the incident. In her letter, she wrote that she could no longer work for a company that, in her view, sided with oppressors rather than standing in solidarity with the oppressed. Agrawal also criticised Microsoft's reported $133 million contract with Israel's Ministry of Defence, claiming that the company's AI and Azure cloud services were directly enabling military actions against Palestinians. 'Microsoft cloud and AI make the Israeli military more lethal and destructive in Gaza,' she wrote in a company-wide email shortly after confronting the CEO on stage. Agrawal had joined Microsoft in September 2023 after more than three years at Amazon and had been working in the AI division. Following the April protest, Microsoft dismissed two employees — including Agrawal — who had disrupted the company's 50th anniversary event. The company described their actions as 'hostile, unprovoked, and highly inappropriate'.
Hans India
22-05-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Microsoft Accused of Censoring Pro-Palestinian Terms in Internal Emails
Microsoft is under fire from within its own ranks as reports emerge that thetech giant is filtering internal emails containing terms such as"Palestine," "Gaza," and "genocide." Thecontroversy comes amid growing criticism of the company's alleged ties to theIsraeli military, with employees and public figures voicing concerns over whatthey see as complicity in human rights violations. The censorship claims were brought forward by No Azure for Apartheid,a coalition of pro-Palestinian Microsoft employees. According to the group,Microsoft began filtering these terms shortly after its flagship developerevent, Microsoft Build 2025, was disrupted by an engineerprotesting the company's involvement with Israel. While the system reportedly blocks words like "Palestine,"variations such as "P4lestine" or "Israel" seem to bypassthe filter, suggesting that the block is targeted. Employees argue this movestifles internal dissent and prevents meaningful dialogue within the company. In response to the criticism, Microsoft stated in a recent blog post that thereis 'no evidence' its technology is being used to harmcivilians in Gaza. However, this assurance has done little to calm the growingunrest. Brian Eno Joins the Chorus of Critics Public outrage over Microsoft's actions has now extended beyond its musician and artist Brian Eno, known for composingthe startup chime for Windows 95, voiced his disapproval in a recent Instagrampost. 'I gladly took on the [Windows 95] project as a creative challenge andenjoyed the interaction with my contacts at the company,' Eno wrote. 'I neverwould have believed that the same company could one day be implicated in themachinery of oppression and war.' Eno demanded that Microsoft 'suspend all services that support anyoperations that contribute to violations of international law.' He wasespecially critical of the company's contracts with Israel's Ministry ofDefense, accusing it of enabling 'surveillance, violence, and destruction inPalestine.' Employee Protests Continue to Escalate The backlash is not confined to social media. Microsoft employees havestaged several high-profile protests over the past few months. During CEO SatyaNadella's keynote speech at Build 2025, Azure engineer JoeLopez interrupted the event, shouting: 'Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians?' Lopez was swiftly removed by security, but he later expanded on his views inan internal email shared on Medium. 'I can no longer stand by in silence as Microsoft continues to facilitateIsrael's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people,' he wrote. Lopez claimed to have seen internal documents indicating Microsoft beganpitching services to the Israeli military shortly after the October 7, 2023attacks. 'Microsoft openly admitted to allowing the Israel Ministry of Defence'special access to our technologies beyond the terms of our commercialagreements,'' he added. 'Do you really believe that this 'special access' wasallowed only once?' Despite Microsoft's blog post asserting that a third-party review found 'noevidence' of its technology being used to harm civilians, Lopezdismissed the audit as 'non-transparent' and partiallyconducted by Microsoft itself. 'We don't need an internal audit to know that a top Azure customer iscommitting crimes against humanity,' he argued. 'We see it live on the internetevery day.' More Voices from Inside Lopez is not alone in challenging the company. Just last month, U.S.-basedemployee Vaniya Agrawal disrupted Microsoft's 50th-anniversarycelebration, confronting leadership including Nadella, Steve Ballmer, and BillGates. In a public letter, she condemned Microsoft's role in supportingIsrael's technological infrastructure, saying: 'It is undeniable that Microsoft's Azure cloud offerings and AI developmentsform the technological backbone of Israel's automated apartheid and genocidesystems.' Another engineer, Ibtihal Aboussad, made headlines aftershe interrupted a Microsoft AI event to confront AI CEO MustafaSuleyman with a blunt message: 'Mustafa, shame on you.' A Tense Road Ahead Microsoft's handling of internal dissent and its reported censorshippractices are drawing increasing scrutiny. With its own employees and prominentpublic figures calling for accountability, the company is now caught in agrowing storm over corporate ethics, technology's role in conflict, and theboundaries of free speech in the workplace. While Microsoft has attempted to reassure its workforce and the public, itsnext steps—particularly in how it handles employee concerns and transparencyaround international contracts—will likely define its reputation in thisrapidly unfolding controversy.
