More than 100 Microsoft employees have signed a letter to Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella and President Brad Smith criticizing the company's plans to build HoloLens AR tech for the military, according to the group, which is part of a $ 480 million contract. By Microsoft in November.
"We did not sign to develop weapons, and we demand justification for how we use our work," the letter says.
Microsoft focuses on enhanced corporate reality efforts but has followed the military contract aggressively, beating other applicants including Magic Leap. This contract is essentially a pilot program to begin equip the US military with a reality enhanced with masks and software tools to help train and fight.
The letter, protesting the half-billion-dollar deal, came just two days before Microsoft expected the second generation of HoloLens at an event in Barcelona.
In October, Microsoft President Brad Smith published a statement expressing support for the company's military projects. "We believe in a strong defense of the United States and we want to defend the people who defend it with the best technology in the country, including Microsoft," he said.
The letter came in the company's most influential bid to win the $ 10 billion JEDI Cloud Infrastructure Contract, but the signal from a small group of employees shows that not everyone in the company thinks Microsoft should help the US military.
Microsoft focuses on enhanced corporate reality efforts but has followed the military contract aggressively, beating other applicants including Magic Leap. This contract is essentially a pilot program to begin equip the US military with a reality enhanced with masks and software tools to help train and fight.
The letter, protesting the half-billion-dollar deal, came just two days before Microsoft expected the second generation of HoloLens at an event in Barcelona.
In October, Microsoft President Brad Smith published a statement expressing support for the company's military projects. "We believe in a strong defense of the United States and we want to defend the people who defend it with the best technology in the country, including Microsoft," he said.
The letter came in the company's most influential bid to win the $ 10 billion JEDI Cloud Infrastructure Contract, but the signal from a small group of employees shows that not everyone in the company thinks Microsoft should help the US military.
