When Vaniya Agrawal made Microsoft's AI security chief 'stumble' and accidentally reveal Walmart's AI plans
Former
Microsoft
employee
Vaniya Agrawal
, alongside colleague
Hossam Nasr
, disrupted a presentation by Microsoft's head of AI security
Neta Haiby
at the
Build 2025 conference
on Tuesday, causing an unexpected revelation of confidential internal messages about Walmart's artificial intelligence expansion plans.
The leak occurred when Haiby switched screens amid the protests, accidentally exposing private Teams conversations about the retail giant's upcoming use of Microsoft's AI tools. The exposed messages showed Walmart is "ready to ROCK AND ROLL with Entra Web and AI Gateway," according to a Microsoft cloud solution architect. The conversation also quoted a Walmart AI engineer praising Microsoft's security capabilities, stating "Microsoft is WAY ahead of Google with AI security. We are excited to go down this path with you."
The accidental revelation highlighted concerns about Walmart's existing "MyAssistant" tool, which the messages described as "overly powerful and needs guardrails." This proprietary AI system, built last summer using Azure OpenAI Service, helps store associates summarize documents and create marketing content. The Verge first reported on the incident and the AI partnership details.
Protests disrupt multiple Microsoft Build sessions
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This marked the third protest interruption at Microsoft Build 2025, as Agrawal and Nasr continued their campaign against Microsoft's cloud contracts with the Israeli government. The duo, representing the "No Azure for Apartheid" group, specifically chose Haiby's AI security session to voice their concerns.
"Sarah, you are whitewashing the crimes of Microsoft in Palestine," Nasr shouted at Sarah Bird, Microsoft's head of responsible AI, who was co-hosting the session. The disruption followed similar protests during CEO
Satya Nadella
's keynote and other Build presentations.
Both Nasr and Agrawal are former Microsoft employees who were terminated after organizing Palestinian solidarity activities. Their protests centered on demanding Microsoft end its Azure contracts with Israeli military and government entities.
Microsoft has not commented on the Build disruptions or the accidentally revealed Walmart partnership details.
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