Microsoft secures $ 22 billion contract with US military for AR IVAS HoloLens

At the end of 2018, Microsoft hit a transaction of 480 million dollars with the US military to deliver prototypes of augmented reality headsets based on its HoloLens system. Well it looks like the military is a fan because it’s signed a contract get many more of them. As in, over 120,000 helmets worth up to $ 21.88 billion over 10 years.

“This award takes IVAS to production and rapid commissioning to deliver next-generation night vision and situational awareness capabilities to the Close Combat Force (CCF) at the speed of relevance,” said writes the army in its Press release. The contract itself, according to CNBC, has a base period of five years with the possibility of extending for another five years later.

The Integrated Visual Augmented System (IVAS) headsets are based on the HoloLens 2 – Microsoft’s $ 3,500 mixed reality headset – and use the company’s Azure cloud services. Although incredibly advanced, HoloLens 2 is currently more popular with businesses than consumers. because, well, most people don’t need a $ 3,500 headset without killer apps. The military, however, is another story. By CNBC, the IVAS prototype allows soldiers to see a map and compass, and features thermal imaging for night vision capabilities. He is also able to help soldiers aim a weapon. The military press release reiterated these use cases, saying it also allows soldiers to “fight, rehearse and train” on a single platform. Microsoft Press release implies that this technology can ensure the safety of soldiers (and possibly civilians) by “enabling information sharing and decision making” in various scenarios.

It sounds good on paper, but the news is also disturbing. The technological effectiveness of targeted bombardments or surgical strikes in minimizing civilian casualties, for example, is far from proven. Nowadays, most of the information on AR headsets tends to focus on how they could improve everyday life. Tech giants are touting AR as a tool that could help you navigate the streets, learn more about your surroundings, and make your work life more productive. This agreement with Microsoft, however, is a firm reminder that this technology had not only its origins in the war, but it is also being actively developed for this purpose. Although IVAS helmets themselves are not directly classified as weapons of war, they is a tool that can be used to make soldiers more “effective”.

The relationship between technological development and war is not new. Many of the technologies we use today, including, the most famous, the the Internet—Was originally developed for military purposes. That’s not to say, however, that the civil engineers who develop this technology are happy with the porosity of this line.

Back when Microsoft first won the IVAS 2018 contract, Microsoft employees wrote a open letter to CEO Satya Nadella and chairman Brad Smith demanding that the company end the contract. In it, they called for stricter ethical guidelines on how this emerging technology should be used and said they “refuse to create technology for war and oppression.” These feelings don’t seem to have changed.

“We would much prefer Microsoft to use today to stand up for transgender people everywhere on Transgender Visibility Day, instead of building weapons of war,” Microsoft employees. tweeted in response to the news.

“Over the past two centuries, technology has changed the nature of what is needed to defend a nation,” Smith wrote on Twitter. “We have long supported the efforts of @DeptofDefense and @ USArmy to modernize the US military with cutting edge technology.”

Yet, as long as military contracts remain lucrative, this is unlikely to be a problem that will go away anytime soon. Especially not for Microsoft employees. After all, Microsoft too won a $ 10 billion cloud computing contract for the Pentagon in 2019.

Right now, the question is how ethical it is for Big Tech to enter into military or police contracts without explicitly disclosing that goal to its employees. Microsoft employees are not the only ones who oppose these types of contracts. Google employees, for example, have called on the company to kill its Pentagon involvement. Controversial Maven Project drone AI program, as well as its Dragonfly Project Program censoring search engine results in China. Amazon workers also demanded that the company withdraw facial recognition contracts with law enforcement, as well as the expulsion of Palantir, a data mining company with military connections, from its cloud servers.