Nadella: Microsoft will sell war technologies to democracies to "protect freedoms"

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company's $ 480 million contract to provide HoloLens technology to the military is a "policy decision" and the company will not "refuse technology" to democratic governments.

As part of this agreement, signed last year, Microsoft could provide up to 100,000 HoloLens phone headsets to the military as part of its "Integrated Visual Augmentation System" project. (IVAS). The intention is to integrate HoloLens hardware with thermal imaging, weapons targeting and health surveillance systems, to, among other things, provide "lethality" to soldiers who use it. A number of Microsoft employees have signed a open letter saying that the company should cancel the contract, arguing that it crossed a line in the development of weapons. Some 250 staff members would have signed the letter.

Sending to CNN Business, Nadella defended the decision to sign the contract stating, "We have made the policy decision not to deprive the institutions we have elected in democracies of technology to protect the freedoms we have. enjoy. " We have been very transparent about this decision and we will continue this dialogue. [with employees]. "

The sale of Microsoft software to the military is not new. The United States Department of Defense is a large corporation that meets all the standard productivity requirements of any large corporation. As such, it runs Windows and other Microsoft software, as would any other civil organization. But Microsoft software is also present in weapon systems and other areas exclusive to the military. Windows and Linux have been used in this capacity, with standard software used to run critical control systems.

The employees behind the open letter claim that even with these contracts, Microsoft has never been involved in the development of weapons. he was selling general purpose software that others then used and adapted. The IVAS contract is perceived as different. Microsoft, rather than third parties, is striving to increase efficiency and lethality on the battlefield. Employees also criticized the company's review process of the ethical development and sale of machine learning systems, claiming that it was opaque and insufficient to prevent the development of weapons. .

Even the sale of software and productivity services has been criticized by Microsoft staff. Last year, another open letter called on Microsoft to terminate its contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in response to the aggressive policy of separation of children from their parents adopted by the Trump administration. At the time, Nadella had insisted that the contract only covered the office's messaging, document management and other normal workloads, and that there was no involvement in the separations. children, nor the use of facial recognition or other more controversial services.

Following the complaint against ICE, Microsoft's chief legal officer, Brad Smith, wrote last year that any employee who felt unable or unwilling to work on certain projects would be helped to find other roles. within the company.