Microsoft Employees Powerless as HoloLens 2 Used for Military Profits
What happens when our most incredible technology products are used for war and upgrading soldiers? Microsoft is under such a dilemma.
Workers say augmented reality headsets provided to US army risk ‘turning warfare into a simulated video game’.
A small group of 50 Microsoft employees seem to have some ethical conscience where they have demanded the company back out of a deal with the US military to provide augmented reality technology.The group believes the firm’s headset, HoloLens, must not be used to “help people kill”.
Microsoft on their blog attempt to portray why the deal was made and why it’s a good idea.
The reality is Microsoft, Amazon and Google have all been catering to Military contracts, and their employees don’t have on actual say in the matter.
In November, 2018, Microsoft agreed a $479m (£367m) deal to develop a platform that would involve soldiers using about 100,000 headsets. Incredible use of your mixed reality AR guys.
A letter sent around Microsoft on Friday February 22nd, 2019 and seen by the BBC has been backed by employees across multiple departments, but got limited U.S. news coverage.
It all begs the question, who is regulating the G-MAFIAs of the world, when their own employees aren’t comfortable with how their products are being used?
A group of 50 employees is not a significant movement in a company the size of Microsoft, and who wants to rock the boat in the era of Google using AI for killer drones or censorship search products made for China?
Indeed, Microsoft won’t stop in its activities to empower the US Army’s ability to cause harm and violence. This is America and in the AI-arms race with China, the most valuable companies in the world will do their due diligence to help America compete with China — which ironically will only escalate & accelerate how technology and machine learning will be misused.
Satya Nadella might be good in the Cloud, but he doesn’t seem to be very consciousnesses when thinking about where his tech leads the future of humanity. What what can you expect, in this era of surveillance capitalism? It’s not like there are human rights regulators in technology, it’s the wild-wild west of AI and technology.
In the tweet circulated on the Twitter account Microsoft for Good, the circulated paper is a sad note of what the technological state is coming to.
Sadly, Amazon, Google and Microsoft are very complicit to it. Profits are everything for Silicon Valley as their decisions are not based on long-term simulations but on short-term gains.
The employee protest is the latest manifestation of a growing labor movement in the US technology industry. Employees at companies including Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Salesforce are increasingly speaking out both about their own working conditions and about the uses to which their employees put their work product. Yet, executives are not listening. This in spite of PR and saying things to the contrary.
Under the terms of the army contract, however, the devices will be used to “increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide and engage before the enemy”, according to Bloomberg.
How much do your ethics cost Microsoft? $400 million apparently. Not such a steep price I guess.
Microsoft is nearly boastful of its marked history of collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) on a longstanding and reliable basis for four decades.
Microsoft Workers 4 Good stated:
If Alphabet chases whistle blowers with a no tolerance policy, I’m not sure what Microsoft will do to this group. “We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used.” Apparently the engineers thought the tech would be useful for life-affirming purposes like education, architecture and such.
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.”
I’m pretty sure the modern soldier will embrace AR as well. You can only imagine how much they will enjoy the product.
HoloLens, first released to developers in March 2016, allows the wearer to see digital images laid over the real world. The ethical misuse of technology is on the rise as tech companies seek to scale their products even as they are among the global leaders as the most powerful corporate entities of the world.
The Army said in its contract announcement last year that IVAS “will provide an unparalleled advantage on the battlefield.’ Microsoft rejoice!
Microsoft Workers 4 Good propose an “independent, external ethics review board” that would oversee compliance with that policy.
The G-MAFIA have taken great pains to create a system of capitalism where there is no regulation of this kind of thing, so as to maximize profits.
You’ll find Microsoft technology throughout the American military, helping power its front office, field operations, bases, ships, aircraft and training facilities. They are proud of it ! They think it’s patriotic.
Satya thinks this contract is aligned with a long-term view. (if below appears blank, see here).
It’s a bit scary what Microsoft will do for profits at this point.
It is not the first time that Microsoft employees have spoken out against the firm’s work with government entities, but Microsoft’s war profiteering shows no signs of slowing down.
In June 2018, more than 100 Microsoft employees signed a petition protesting against their employer’s contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If it’s not creative tweets, it’s Medium posts. However, Microsoft employees for the most part fall in line.
Microsoft employees appear very naive, they join Microsoft to create a positive impact on people and society, with the expectation that the technologies they build will not cause harm or human suffering. Think again.
Microsoft Employees Powerless as HoloLens 2 Used for Military Profits
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