Geekwire

A message from GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop: This episode of the GeekWire Podcast is unlike any we’ve done before. It touches on some of the most contentious and disputed issues in the tech industry, and in the world more broadly.  It started with my curiosity and desire to understand something that happened in March, at GeekWire’s independent Microsoft @ 50 event. I was on stage interviewing Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith when the conversation was interrupted by a protester.  The group behind the protest, called No Azure for Apartheid, represents current and former Microsoft employees who want the company to end its cloud computing and AI contracts with the Israeli military. They cite concerns over how they believe their work is being used by Israel. Addressing the larger issues raised by the group, Microsoft said in a May 15 post that it conducted internal and external reviews and “found no evidence to date that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies h