Ibtihal Abou El Saad: The Moroccan Engineer Who Dared to Speak Out
Who Is Ibtihal Abou El Saad?
Ibtihal Abou El Saad is a Moroccan engineer and programmer, born in 1999 in Rabat, Morocco. A top student, she earned her high school diploma in Mathematical Sciences from Moulay Youssef High School in 2017. In the summer of 2016, she participated in the U.S. State Department’s "TechGirls" program, which granted her the opportunity to study at Harvard University, where she majored in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence.
Championing Tech for Social Good
While studying at Harvard, Ibtihal launched initiatives to teach girls how to code and co-developed “Recentibus,” a digital platform designed to document and preserve medical records for refugees. After graduating, she joined Microsoft in 2022, working in the Artificial Intelligence division and contributing to the development of cutting-edge technologies, including the cloud service platform Microsoft Azure.
A Bold Protest at Microsoft’s 50th Anniversary
During Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration, Ibtihal made headlines by interrupting the speech of Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s Executive VP of AI. She accused the company of supplying AI technologies to the Israeli military, allegedly aiding in the surveillance of Palestinians. Ibtihal stated:
"You claim to care about using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military. 50,000 people have died, and Microsoft is complicit in this genocide in our region."
Repercussions and Reactions
Following her protest, Ibtihal was reportedly locked out of her work account, raising suspicions about her potential dismissal from Microsoft. The Palestinian group Hamas praised her actions as a rare act of courage and called on employees of companies supporting the Israeli occupation to follow her example.
A Role Model of Courage and Integrity
Ibtihal Abou El Saad stands as a powerful symbol of courage and commitment to humanitarian values. Despite the professional risks, she voiced her beliefs and took a stand, making her a role model in the fight for justice