Protest at Microsoft Build 2025 Exposes Walmart’s AI Plans in Accidental Teams Leak

Microsoft’s Build 2025 conference took an unexpected turn this week when a security talk was interrupted by protesters, then followed by an accidental leak. During the session, Microsoft’s head of security for AI, Neta Haiby, briefly shared private Teams messages about Walmart’s plans for Microsoft’s AI tools, including Entra and AI Gateway.

The disruption began when two ex-Microsoft employees interrupted a session on AI security. One of them shouted, “Sarah, you are whitewashing the crimes of Microsoft in Palestine… Microsoft is fueling the genocide in Palestine.” The livestream was muted, and the camera moved away as security stepped in.

Walmart’s AI plan slips through during the Microsoft Build chaos

After the protest, the talk resumed, but Haiby accidentally switched to Microsoft Teams while screen sharing. The private messages exposed plans around Walmart’s upcoming use of Microsoft’s Entra and AI Gateway.

One message from a Microsoft cloud architect read, “Walmart is ready to rock and roll with Entra Web and AI Gateway.” Another quote from a Walmart engineer said, “Microsoft is WAY ahead of Google with AI security. We are excited to go down this path with you.”

Walmart already uses Azure OpenAI for some of its AI work. This Teams leak offered a rare glimpse at how deep the collaboration is getting.

Meanwhile, the protestors—Hossam Nasr and Vaniya Agrawal—were both former employees. Nasr had been fired for holding a vigil for Palestinians outside Microsoft HQ. Agrawal previously disrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary event and had just quit the company.

This was the third protest during Build 2025. Earlier, a Palestinian tech worker interrupted another AI session. That’s not all; during CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote, a current Microsoft employee interrupted him live on stage.

Microsoft says it reviewed its ties with Israel’s Ministry of Defense and found “no evidence that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies… have been used to harm people.”