[ad_1]
Unity employees question the company’s lack of transparency about its military and government work.
According to a detailed report from Waypoint, several employees expressed concern over the engine builder’s reluctance to be frank with staff about the nature of projects that could be considered unethical.
Unity has not shied away from promoting its contracts outside of the games industry – the company actively touts its work in other industries such as automation, engineering, transportation, government, military and l aerospace on its website (as pictured below) – but when it comes to discussing the scope of these projects internally, the company is looking more cautious.
Three sources who spoke to Waypoint claimed that some Unity employees might end up developing technology for military customers without ever knowing it, in large part because Unity often dubbed these government and military contracts as “GovTech” initiatives. “.
Waypoint also got a draft memo that asks Unity officials to use terms like “government” and “defense” instead of “military.” While it’s unclear whether the memo has ever been officially released, the language used matches employee concerns.
“We need to be sensitive to the different values and beliefs people perceive from our engagement with government, especially the DoD [Department of Defense]”reads the memo, which also contains a list of” do’s and don’ts, “including one telling employees not to” discuss projects involving the use of simulated or virtual weapons or training to harm another person “.
The line of conduct here seems to be that Unity employees in various disciplines are left in the dark about how their work could be used. For example, a source explained how an engineer could work on an AI tool without ever knowing that it could be used for military purposes.
“Much of Unity AI’s work reinforces other government projects, so it can be difficult to assess its contribution to government projects,” a source said. “It should be very clear when people step into the military initiative part of Unity,” added another.
While Unity employees can sometimes request more information from a manager, the process for doing so appears to be complicated and in some cases only results in vague responses.
For example, a source explained how they were tasked with working on what has been described as a “random placement plan for a government simulation project,” only to find that the technology would be used to simulate blast debris. on virtual tracks.
In an effort to reassure employees after they spoke out against a deal with Schlumberger, an oil and gas giant, Unity formed the Sales Ethics Advisory Council (SEAC) to review the projects and ensure that the business avoids problem customers.
The ethics board, however, has also been accused of being deliberately obtuse and has reportedly provided limited information on its broader decision-making process. The notion of a Unit forming the SEAC to provide ethical oversight without ever properly explaining how the group operates has gone awry, and although some staff have managed to push the issue in an internal WADA session more earlier this year, the responses they received didn’t do much. to allay their concerns.
“It wasn’t quite the disaster I thought it was going to be, but it was great because a lot of people had questions and they [Unity] had very few responses, ”said a source who attended the meeting.
“Whether I work directly for the government team or not, I hold responsibility for the products they sell,” another source said. “Do you want to use your tools to catch the bad guys? Maybe we shouldn’t be concerned with defining who the bad guys are,” added another.
For more information on the situation at Unity, be sure to read the full article on Waypoint.
[ad_2]
Source link