The letter from Microsoft workers asks the company to abandon the contract Army HoloLens

In a letter to key leaders, a group of Microsoft workers is asking the company to waive a controversial contract with the US military.

Workers are opposed to the company signing a $ 479 million contract last year to provide technology for the Army Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS. As part of the project, Microsoft, the maker of the augmented reality helmet HoloLens, could eventually supply more than 100,000 helmets designed for combat and training in the military. The Army described the project as a means of "increasing lethality by improving the ability to detect, decide, and engage with the enemy."

"We are alarmed by the fact that Microsoft is employing to provide weapon technology to the US military, helping the government of a country to" increase lethality "to the US Using the tools we have designed, "write the workers in this letter addressed to CEO Satya Nadella and President Brad Smith. "We did not register to develop weapons and we ask for our opinion on how our work is used."

The letter, which organizers said included dozens of employee signatures at the time of publication, claims that Microsoft has "crossed the line of weapons development" with the contract. "The intention to harm is not an acceptable use of our technology," we read. The workers are asking the company to cancel the contract, stop developing any weapons technology, create a public policy committing to not building weapons technology and appoint an external ethics committee to apply. While the letter indicates that the company has put in place an ethics review process for the AI ​​called Aether, the workers say it is not robust enough to prevent the development of weapons, as shown in the contract IVAS.

Microsoft has already been the subject of internal criticism during its work with the US government. Last year, after it was revealed that the company was providing services to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, hundreds of employees quickly signed an open letter asking the company to terminate its relations with the agency. Nevertheless, Microsoft executives defended their government work, and the company did not accede to pressure from employees who were pushing it to stop working with ICE.

"As employees and shareholders, we do not want to become war profiteers," concludes the letter sent today. "To this end, we believe that Microsoft must cease its activities to strengthen the US military's ability to cause damage and violence."

Army Contract Demand is the latest example of technology industry workers organizing against their company's projects. Last year, Google employees joined forces to counter the project of working on an artificial intelligence project called Pentagon Project Maven. Under pressure, Google's management finally pulled back. More recently, employees of several technology companies have been lobbying leaders on issues such as sexual harassment policies and the development of facial recognition.

The complete letter from Microsoft workers is below:

Dear Satya Nadella and Brad Smith,

We are a global coalition of Microsoft workers and we refuse to create technology for war and oppression. We are alarmed by the fact that Microsoft is striving to provide military technology to the US military, thus helping the government of a country to "increase lethality" through the tools we have designed. We have not signed up to develop weapons and we ask for our opinion on how our work is used.

In November, Microsoft won the $ 479 million Integrated Augmentation Visual System (IVAS) contract with the United States Army Department. The stated purpose of the contract is to "quickly develop, test and manufacture a unique platform that soldiers can use to combat, rehearse and train, providing increased lethality, mobility and situational awareness to achieve the ultimate goal. -confrontation facing our current and future adversaries ". . Microsoft intends to apply its HoloLens augmented reality technology for this purpose. Although the company previously granted a technology license to the US military, it never crossed the line of arms development. With this contract, this is the case. The HoloLens application in the IVAS system is designed to help people kill. It will be deployed on the battlefield and will work by turning the war into a simulated "video game", further moving soldiers away from the enormous stakes of war and the reality of bloodshed.

The intention to harm is not an acceptable use of our technology.

We require that Microsoft:

1) terminate the IVAS contract;

2) Stop developing any weapons technology and draft an acceptable use policy for the public clarifying this commitment;

3) Appoint an independent external ethics committee with the power to enforce and publicly validate compliance with its acceptable use policy.

Although an ethics review process at AI, AETHER, is opaque to Microsoft employees and is clearly not robust enough to prevent the development of weapons, as evidenced by the IVAS contract. Without such a strategy, Microsoft does not inform its engineers of the intent of the software they are building. Such a policy would also allow workers and the public to hold Microsoft accountable.

Brad Smith's suggestion that employees who are anxious to work on unethical projects "would be allowed to move to other work within the company" ignores the problem that workers are not properly informed of the use of their work. Before this contract existed, many engineers contributed to HoloLens, thinking that it would be used to help architects and engineers build buildings and cars, to teach people how to perform surgery or at the piano, to push the boundaries of the game connect with the Rover Mars (RIP). These engineers have now lost their ability to make decisions about their work, instead of being involved as war profiteers.

Microsoft's accessibility and security guidelines go beyond expectations because we care about our customers. We ask the same approach for an ethical policy and acceptable use of our technology. Making our products accessible to all audiences has forced us to be proactive and flawless in terms of inclusion. If we do not take the same ethical commitment, we will not be. We must conceive against the abuses and the potential to cause violence and harm.

Microsoft's mission is to enable every person and every organization on the planet to do more. But implicitly in this statement, we believe that Microsoft's mission is also to give every person and organization on the planet the means to do good. We also need to be aware of who we are empowering and empowering them to do. Extending this essential mission to embrace war and free Microsoft employees is an illusion, because "every person" also means empowering us. As employees and shareholders, we do not want to become war profiteers. To that end, we believe that Microsoft must cease operations to strengthen the US military's ability to cause damage and violence.

Microsoft Workers