Protesters storm stage at UN AI summit over Amazon’s Israel contract

Pro-Palestine activists stormed the stage during a presentation by Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. ↘ 0.95% Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Werner Vogels at the United Nations "AI for Good" Global Summit in Geneva on Wednesday, denouncing the company's cloud computing contract with the Israeli government.

The Disruption

Video from the event showed activists taking the stage as Vogels was speaking at Palexpo, where the AI for Good Global Summit has been convening researchers, policymakers, and tech executives since July 7. One protester unfurled a banner reading "No tech for apartheid" while another directly confronted Vogels over Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud services deal jointly held by Amazon and Google Alphabet Inc. ↘ 1.08% with the Israeli government.aa+3

The protester was forcibly removed from the stage after denouncing Amazon's involvement in what activists describe as enabling military AI operations. Hundreds of additional demonstrators staged a protest outside the summit venue demanding "No AI for genocide and war crimes," according to Middle East Eye.newarab+2

Project Nimbus Under Scrutiny

Project Nimbus, announced by the Israeli Finance Ministry in 2021, provides the Israeli government with cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning services. The contract, split between Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform, has drawn sustained opposition from workers at both companies through the #NoTechForApartheid campaign.notechforapartheid+3

Organizers of the disruption included members of No Tech for Apartheid, a worker-led campaign, along with labor activist Chris Smalls, who posted from Geneva that he was present "with my comrades from No Tech for Apartheid" during the summit.instagram

Broader Context

The protest is part of an escalating pattern of direct action targeting the two tech giants over the contract. In June, about two dozen demonstrators rallied outside Amazon's Spheres headquarters in Seattle carrying signs depicting executives as war criminals. The Electronic Frontier Foundation in April called on both companies to conduct independent human rights impact assessments of the project.geekwire+1

Google has previously stated that the contract covers "workloads running on our commercial platform by Israeli government ministries such as finance, healthcare, transportation, and education" and is not directed at "highly sensitive or classified military workloads". Amazon has not publicly commented on the Geneva disruption.time