[ad_1]
Source image
Getty Images
Microsoft has contracted with the US military to provide it with augmented reality technology under a contract valued at $ 479 million
50 employees of Microsoft Corp. have asked the company to give up an agreement with the US military to provide it with augmented reality technology for military use.
Staff spoke of the need not to use the Hololens HoloLens helmet (smart glasses), "to help people kill."
Microsoft, the US technology giant, announced in November a $ 479 million deal to provide the US military with augmented reality technology by developing a platform that includes soldiers using approximately 100,000 smartphones.
"We always appreciate the staff's views and we have many ways to listen to their requests," said a Microsoft spokesman regarding employee requests to terminate the deal.
The BBC received a message regarding the transaction addressed to Microsoft management and benefited from the support of staff from several departments of the company.
Microsoft employees are angry at Trump
Microsoft has filled the gaps "exploited by the US government" to penetrate the banking system
Microsoft removes antisemitic entries from GAB account
"Microsoft must stop any activity that helps the US military to strengthen its ability to engage in violence and cause harm," the letter said.
"We have not worked here to develop weapons and we want to know how to use what we produce."
The Hololens smart glasses, introduced for the first time in March 2016, allow you to visualize virtual digital images integrated into the real world. Microsoft, Satya Nadella, CEO, is expected to announce the new version of Hololins eyewear 2 At a conference in Barcelona, Spain on Sunday just before the opening of the World Mobile Trade Show.
Military concern
The letter calls on Microsoft to cancel the IVAS development contract, to put an end to the development of "all" weapons technologies and to formulate a policy on it.
It also calls for the creation of an "independent external review body of ethics" to ensure compliance with this policy.
Microsoft employees said in a letter to the administration that they did not want to participate in activities that kill people.
This is not the first time that Microsoft employees have opposed the company's work with government agencies.
In June, while the administration of President Donald Trump was the subject of controversy over the separation of children from their families on the US-Mexican border, the company's employees demanded that They cease to provide services to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE).
The general manager of the company condemned the White House's procedures and said that Microsoft's technologies were only used for office tasks, according to certain criteria.
"War Recipients"
Faced with the attitude of the latter, Microsoft will not be able to easily defend its position on the contract with the US military. Its aim is "to increase deadly capacity by improving the enemy's detection and identification capability and then eliminating it".
We know that Microsoft outperformed all competing augmented reality developers, such as Magic Leap.
Brad Smith, chief executive and senior counsel for Microsoft, said employees who rejected the military nature of the company would be allowed to work in other departments. In their letter, staff responded that the proposal was "unacceptable".
"Microsoft hides its engineers from the objectives of the program they are working on."
"Many engineers have contributed to the development of Hololense before signing this contract, thinking that it would be used for the construction of buildings and cars, to help people to perform surgery or the piano, to develop new games and communicate with the Mars exploration material. "
"These engineers have now lost the ability to make decisions about what they do and have benefited from the war."
Microsoft is not the only company to face internal outrage caused by its participation in military activities. Last year, Google decided not to renew its contract with the US Department of Defense to work on the Project Maven program, an artificial intelligence program under development.
However, some continued to work on military projects and Jeff Bezos, chief executive of Amazon, announced that his company would work enthusiastically with the military.
"It's a big country, you have to defend it," he said in an interview.
Source link
