Pro-Palestinian activists interrupted a presentation by Amazon Chief Technology Officer Werner Vogels at the UN's AI for Good summit in Geneva on Wednesday, accusing the company of providing technology used by Israel in its military operations.
During Vogels' appearance, one protester confronted the Amazon executive over Project Nimbus , a cloud computing contract jointly awarded to Amazon and Google by the Israeli government.
"You are making Project Nimbus, a project of billions of dollars that Amazon is investing [in], so that Israel has free access to your servers," the activist said.
He went on to highlight Amazon's technology, which underpins Israeli AI systems including " Lavender " and "Where's Daddy", used by the Israeli military to identify and track targets in Gaza.
As Vogels left the stage, the protester continued: "You know this, Werner Vogels, and you're making millions out of this."
"You're sitting here as if you're trying to do good, as if you're trying to be for the good of AI. What do you have to say for yourself? How do you sleep at night?" he said.
“Maybe that’s why you cannot even stand on this stage and look at these people, because you know exactly what your technology is being used for. They know exactly where their profits are coming from. And they continue anyway."
The protester was removed from the venue by security personnel as demonstrators and sections of the audience chanted: "Drop Project Nimbus."
Project Nimbus is a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract signed by Amazon and Google with the Israeli government in 2021.
The project has become the focus of sustained protests by employees and rights campaigners, who say it provides technological infrastructure that supports Israel's military and surveillance capabilities.
Amazon and Google have alleged that the contract provides cloud services to government ministries, rejecting claims that it is designed to facilitate military operations.
Israeli media investigations have reported that the military has used AI-assisted systems, including one known as Lavender, to help identify suspected targets during the war in Gaza.
Another system, known as "Where's Daddy?", has reportedly been used to track individuals to their homes, where their families might be, before strikes.
The disruption came as the UN-hosted summit brought together governments and technology companies to discuss the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 72,000 people and has been widely acknowledged as a genocide.