Major tech giants boost cooperation with US army

​​​​​​​By Tolga Yanik and Abdulkadir Gunyol

ISTANBUL (AA) - Leading companies in the technology industry, including Microsoft, OpenAI and Amazon, are strengthening their cooperation with the US military in areas from augmented reality to cyber security.

According to the information compiled by Anadolu, Microsoft has a cooperation agreement with the military in the field of augmented reality-based glasses.

With the deal that was made in 2021, Microsoft will deliver more than 120,000 products to the US military, named HoloLens. The value of the 10-year agreement will reach $21.8 billion.

Microsoft has another agreement with the Pentagon that includes cloud services.

While Microsoft was selected by the US Department of Defense for cloud services in 2018, the agreement was revised during Joe Biden's tenure, and the cloud services deal was divided between Google, Amazon, Oracle and Microsoft.

Amazon, one of the partners of the agreement, said the work they have been doing with the US government for a long time has proven the experience of their services and national security depends on the US’ ability to stay one step ahead of competitors.

- AI-supported cyber security studies to be carried out with OpenAI

In addition to those companies, OpenAI, which has become prominent in the technology field with the AI-based application, ChatGPT, developed in recent years, has joined companies cooperating with the US military.

Within the scope of the cooperation, studies on cyber security will be carried out with the support of AI.

ChatGPT's usage policies included an article stating that it would not be used for military purposes.

The phrase saying that it cannot be used for military purposes article has been removed from the article.

Company officials said the purpose of the change in the article is to allow military use cases that the company accepts.

The change in OpenAI's policies is interpreted by some experts as an indication that the company is open to working with military customers.

- More than 180,000 US Army staff use Google Workspace

Another technology company that the US military co-operates with is Google.

Although the company stands out with its search engine, it offers a wide range of technological solutions from cloud services to e-mail.

Within the scope of the cooperation between the company and the US Army, the Google Workspace platform, which offers various collaborative tools through cloud technology, is being used effectively.

According to last year's data, more than 180,000 US Army personnel use Google Workspace within the scope of cooperation.

It is stated that technology companies earn billions of dollars through contracts with the military and other government agencies in the US.

*Writing by Gokhan Ergocun ​​​​​​​