A group of Microsoft workers is campaigning for their employer to cancel a contract that would see the US Army using HoloLens on the battlefield.
We previously reported that Microsoft won the $479 million contract over competing bids from other firms such as Magic Leap to provide mixed reality headsets for the military.
Now Microsoft Workers 4 Good, a group that started back in January, has posted an open letter online to CEO Satya Nadella and president and chief legal officer Brad Smith, calling for the contact to be cancelled.
The group says it is "alarmed that Microsoft is working to provide weapons technology to the US Military, helping one country's government 'increase lethality' using tools we built."
The letter continues: "We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used."
Microsoft Workers 4 Good notes that many of the engineers who have helped develop HoloLens before this contract was won believed the device would be used for non-harmful means, including helping architects and other engineers design buildings and cars, teaching everything from complex surgery to playing the piano, and even hoping to "push the boundaries of gaming."
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