Microsoft employees protest against a multi-million dollar military contract with HoloLens

By Colin Stevens

UPDATE: A Microsoft spokesman provided the following statement to IGN:

"We have looked into this issue carefully and presented our perspective in a blog of October 2018. We always appreciate employee feedback and offer them many opportunities to make their voices heard. Many employees throughout the fall .We are committed to providing our technology to the US Department of Defense, which includes the US Army under this contract.As we have also said, we will remain committed as active citizens in the fight against important ethical and public policies, issues related to artificial intelligence and the army. "

Original story follows:

A group of Microsoft employees began to protest against the use of its HoloLens technology as a result of a multi-million dollar contract with the United States Army.

Postponed by GamesIndustry.biz, the group known as Microsoft Workers 4 Good, which began in January, posted an open letter on Twitter Brad Smith and Satya Nadella, of Microsoft, demanding the cancellation of the $ 479 million contract and stricter ethical rules.

IGN sought the advice of Microsoft.

"We are alarmed by the fact that Microsoft is employing to provide military technology to the US military, thus helping the government of a country to" increase lethality "with the help of tools we have designed, "reads the letter. "We did not register to develop weapons and we ask for our opinion on how our work is used."

"The application of HoloLens within the IVAS [Integrated Visual Augmented System] is designed to help kill people. It will be deployed on the battlefield and will work by transforming the war into a simulated "video game", further removing soldiers from the enormous stakes of war and the reality of bloodshed. The intention to harm is not an acceptable use of our technology. "

Microsoft Workers 4 Good is asking Microsoft to terminate the IVAS contract, stop developing weapon technologies, draft a public use policy and appoint an independent ethics committee to # 39; apply.

The letter went on to say: "Many engineers who have contributed to HoloLens even before this contract exists believe it would be used to help architects and engineers build the boundaries of the game, and connect with the Mars Rover (RIP). "

It was revealed that Microsoft won the IVAS contract with the US military in November, when it was announced that Microsoft would provide prototypes for augmented reality systems for combat missions and training.

In addition, rumors about a new HoloLens system proved to be true, as Microsoft unveiled HoloLens 2 this weekend.

Colin Stevens is a news writer for IGN. Follow on Twitter.