High-tech conferences are increasing security to quell employee protests

in Microsoft’s Vice President Jay Pike’s keynote speech, Tuesday’s annual build meeting, was suspended by employees protesting contracts with the Israeli government. The Seattle Convention Center protesters were quickly whisked out by security guards, including secret agents dressed in clothes like attendees.

More than 800 miles south of Mountain View, California, security guards line up on the Google I/O main stage. alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai was scheduled to give a speech. At the entrance to the developers’ meeting, about 20 black-clad security guards ran around the bags, opened lipstick cases, pulled out items containing female female products, and confiscated over-the-counter painkillers.

The atmosphere will vary during this year’s high-tech conference season. Tensions have already risen after Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel and subsequent expansion bombing campaigns in the Gaza Strip. But they have been growing in recent months as artificial intelligence technology has rapidly advanced and the AI ​​arms race has entered the most sensitive part of society.

Plus, there is the aftermath of the deadly December shooting of Brian Thompson of United Healthcare in midtown Manhattan.

“There’s definitely been a rise in security requests, especially over the past six to nine months,” says Richard Dossett, client relations manager at American Global Security, which works with high-tech companies. “There have been a lot of protests and civic changes at this point, especially at Fortune 500 companies. So they want extra security to make sure they don’t get too much trouble.”

Security companies and industry experts told CNBC that increasing work with the government of technology companies has contributed to an increase in security needs. AI companies in recent years have been walking bans on the military use of their products, and have concluded deals between the defense industry giant and the Department of Defense.

Companies are responding to the rise in anger in some by trying to quell internal dissent. Last year, Google expanded its list of topics of banned discussions to include international issues, territorial disputes, national policy events and military conflicts.

For Microsoft, this week’s protests have been a recent precedent.

In April, the former employee suspended the company’s 50th anniversary ceremony, calling Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman “War Profiteer.” Ibtihal Aboussad, a software engineer for the company’s AI division at the time, was walking towards the stage at an event in Redmond, Washington.

Company employees had previously formed a group called No Azure for Apartheid, following the creation of a similar move to Google and Google. Amazon It was directed at work against the Israeli government.

Parikh, who runs the newly created Coreai Group at Microsoft, heard that particular message during this week’s build speech.

“Jay!” cried out the workers from the audience. “When my people are suffering, how dare you talk about AI!

CEO Satya Nadella was suspended during the keynote speech by an employee named Joe Lopez.

“Satya! How about showing that Microsoft is killing the Palestinians?” cried Lopez. “How about showing that Israel’s war crimes are driven by blue ure?”

Another employee said, “As a Microsoft worker, I refuse to be part of this genocide. Free Palestine!” The employee was later fired, as was Lopez.

Kenneth Bombace, CEO of Global Threat Solutions, said tech companies “have robust security, but they’re going to say it’s been featured last year or so, or more recently.”

“It’s like the politically and now a chaotic world we live in now,” he said, providing protection and research services to its clients.

Following the protests at the build, Microsoft employees have expressed concern that they have been blocked by the company, reporting that emails with the words Gaza, Palestine or Genocide have not been sent, according to screenshots, recordings and documents seen by CNBC.

Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment on increased security. Regarding the email issue, a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement that some messages have been sent to tens of thousands of employees and are taking steps to reduce those emails to emails that have not been opted in.

While Google did not provide any comments on the existence of security in I/O, a spokesman pointed to a list of banned items at the Shoreline Amphitheatre, where the meeting was held.

Google had a similar situation at last year’s developer meeting, with dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters gathering outside with red paint on signs and clothes to signify blood. The banners and signs say “Not evil” and “Stop refueling of genocide.”

The protesters have called for the tech giant to withdraw from the Project Nimbus contract, a $1.2 billion deal to provide AI technology to the Israeli government.

“We won’t stop,” the protesters chanted.

Bombace said that as tech companies work with the government, they “must meet certain security standards.”

“We are currently providing services in response to Gaza’s conflict-based activities,” Bombs said. Social media companies “have a unique footprint in question because of the nature of their business and what’s posted on their platforms,” ​​he said.

Last year, in a keynote address from Google’s executives in New York, an employee from the company’s cloud division publicly protested, declaring that it “refuses to build the technology that drives genocide.” Security at the event ousted him out of the building, and the company later fired him. Google ended more than 50 employees last year after a string of protests against Project Nimbus.

Dossett said he noticed protesters were trying to access buildings on the company’s campus to record videos and take photos to get messages to the public.

“When people try to break into company space and try to film with cameras, it’s viral. That’s what other companies think, ‘I don’t want that to happen to us,'” Dossett said. “It could have an impact on their brand, but it was primarily about people’s safety.”

With Build, Microsoft’s use of undercover agents is a growth trend, experts said.

“They’ll be in the crowd and say, ‘We have a suspicious man in the third row wearing a white shirt,” Bombs said. “There are a lot of things that the average person continues to do things they don’t recognize. That’s a good thing.”

It’s not just on meetings and campuses where businesses are taking additional steps to protect them.

Google increased Pichai’s security costs by 22% to $8.27 million in 2024. At least 12 S&P 500 companies highlighted an increase in security costs, Reuters reported last month, based on a recent analysis of disclosures. Bombace said the AI ​​arms race is a major reason why businesses are driving spending in the area.

“It’s the race now, and that’s going to lead to increased security,” Bombose said. He added that to foreign enemies, “technology will be our number one target.”

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