Google Ends Pentagon Deal: Why GOOGL Won’t Bid for the $10 Billion Contract

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Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOG,GOOGL) Google is no longer going to bid on a $10 billion contract from the Pentagon.

Google Ends Pentagon Deal: Why GOOGL Won't Bid for the $10 Billion Contract

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This contract is for a program called Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud, or JEDI. This is a cloud computing project that would have the company storing massive amounts of secure data for the government. It would also have it providing cloud computing AI.

According to Google, there are a couple of reasons that it isn’t going to bid on the pentagon deal. This first is that the company only has permission to store “moderate” security data from the government. The project would likely include data above Google’s permission.

The next big reason is that Google says that work involved in the contract won’t meet its ethics guidelines. The sticking point here appears to be the use of cloud computing for AI in drones. Google’s ethics policy says it won’t uses its AI for weapons or other efforts that could harm human rights, reports Reuters.

It’s interesting that Google is claiming that it won’t move forward with a bid due to the ethical concerns. This seems to contradict some of the company’s other work. This includes developing a version of Google that censors free speech based on the Chinese Communist Party’s rules.

No matter the case, Google no longer bidding on the deal means that it is now likely going to one of two companies. These two companies are Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). They both have the higher levels of clearance that would be needed for the project.

As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/10/google-ends-pentagon-deal/.

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