Palantir, a data analytics company founded by Peter Thiel, has received a Department of Defense contract to develop artificial intelligence and machine learning for all branches of the US military, as well as special forces and the Joint Staff.
Palantir’s data analytics work relates to Project Maven, Google’s effort to develop artificial intelligence capabilities for the Pentagon. However, Google abandoned the project due to the backlash from its employees.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai (NurPhoto/Contributor/Getty)
Now Bloomberg reports that Palantir is reaping the fruits of Google’s ditch decision. Palantir also renewed its contract with the intelligence arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), another government branch that frequently turns left-leaning companies away.
Via Bloomberg/Yahoo Finance:
Co-founded by conservative billionaire Peter Thiel, Palantir has made the United States and its allies the core of the company’s identity. Thiel criticized Palantir rival Google for refusing to work on military applications. Palantir’s latest deal is part of a program formerly known as Project Maven that made headlines in 2018 after Alphabet Inc’s acquisition of Google. He opposed the development of artificial intelligence capabilities for the Department of Defense. Google dropped out of the contract, and Palantir took the lead, using artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve existing video recognition and analytics software to improve the accuracy of actions like drone attacks.
Earlier this week, Palantir announced another agreement renewing its contract with the US National Security Investigation Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The final contract is worth $95.9 million over five years. Palantir has been criticized in the past for its work with ICE.
Palantir announced on Thursday that it has signed a one-year contract with the Pentagon for up to $229 million.
Source: Breitbart
