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A group of Microsoft employees have penned an open letter urging CEO Satya Nadella and President Brad Smith to cancel their $480M contract with the army, which would fulfill the military’s desire for an “Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS)” with thousands of HoloLens augmented reality devices. Workers claim they didn’t sign for weapons development and warn the technology turns combat into a “simulated video game.”
Microsoft intends to apply its HoloLens augmented reality technology to this purpose. While the company has previously licensed tech to the U.S. Military, it has never crossed the line into weapons development. With this contract, it does. The application of HoloLens within the IVAS system is designed to help people kill. It will be deployed on the battlefield, and works by turning warfare into a simulated “video game,” further distancing soldiers from the grim stakes of war and the reality of bloodshed.
Microsoft intends to apply its HoloLens augmented reality technology to this purpose. While the company has previously licensed tech to the U.S. Military, it has never crossed the line into weapons development. With this contract, it does. The application of HoloLens within the IVAS system is designed to help people kill. It will be deployed on the battlefield, and works by turning warfare into a simulated “video game,” further distancing soldiers from the grim stakes of war and the reality of bloodshed.