Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur who supports President Donald Trump, singled out Google for agreeing to work closely with China in a recent talk before the talk National Conservatism conference in Washington, D.C.
While Google was trying to get its search engine back into the Chinese market it also allowed a contract with the U.S. Defense Department to lapse. The contract helped give the military access to Google’s artificial intelligence tools. Who knew Google has artificial intelligence tools?
Google’s actions, Thiel says were “seemingly treasonous,” and questioned whether Google’s parent Alphabet’s AI research program was “infiltrated” by foreign intelligence.
“These questions need to be asked by the FBI and the CIA,” Thiel said, “And I’d like them to be asked in a not excessively gentle manner.”
President Trump picked up on Thiel’s remarks and said his administration would “take a look”:
“Billionaire Tech Investor Peter Thiel believes Google should be investigated for treason. He accuses Google of working with the Chinese Government.” @foxandfriends A great and brilliant guy who knows this subject better than anyone! The Trump Administration will take a look!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2019
Shares of Google parent Alphabet were off more than 1% on the Trump tweet, ZeroHedge reports.
Advertisement
Advertisement