Who is Vaniya Agrawal? Microsoft engineer who confronted Bill Gates and CEO Satya Nadella

Vaniya Agrawal, a 28-year-old Indian-American software engineer, has become the face of internal dissent at Microsoft after confronting senior leadership during the company's 50th anniversary celebratory event last week.

The celebration took an unexpected turn when a 28-year-old Indian-American software engineer interrupted a high-profile keynote attended by Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and CEO Satya Nadella, accusing the company of enabling violence in Gaza.

Here’s what we know about Vaniya Agrawal and why her protest has sparked debate:

1. Who is Vaniya Agrawal?

Indian-American, graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Software Engineering from Arizona State University (2019).

She is a recipient of the prestigious Grace Hopper Scholarship (2017), supporting women in tech.

• Career Path: Worked at Amazon in engineering roles before joining Microsoft in September 2023 as a Software Engineer II in AI.

• Unconventional Journey: Held jobs as a tea consultant, social media manager, and medical assistant before entering big tech.

2. What happened at Microsoft's event? 

During the keynote, Agrawal stood up and shouted “Shame on you all. You’re all hypocrites.” 

“Fifty thousand Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. How dare you.”

Vaniya Agrawal was escorted out of the event. Shortly after, she sent a company-wide email stating she would resign on April 11, citing her ethical concerns with Microsoft’s contracts. “By working for this company, we are all complicit,” she wrote.

Microsoft made her resignation immediately effective on Monday.

Vaniya Agrawal’s protest followed another interruption earlier that day by colleague Ibtihal Aboussad, who directly confronted AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, accusing him of selling AI “weapons” to the Israeli military.

Both employees were terminated after the event.

3. Why did the protest take place?

• The protest followed an Associated Press investigation reporting that Microsoft and OpenAI’s AI tools were allegedly used by the Israeli military to select bombing targets in Gaza.

• Earlier that day, another Microsoft employee, Ibtihal Aboussad, confronted AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman over similar concerns. Both were terminated.

4. Microsoft's response

The company stated it encourages open dialogue but prohibits disruptions at business events.

It has not directly addressed allegations about its defense contracts.

Similar protests have occurred at Google, Amazon, and Meta over contracts with governments and militaries.