Peter Thiel wants Google probed for ‘treason’

Peter Thiel, one of President Donald Trump’s top Silicon Valley supporters and donors, took aim at Google Inc. and the high-tech industry over the companies’ focus on global markets while brushing aside U.S. interests.

He singled out Google for agreeing to work closely with China, trying to get its search engine back into the Chinese market, while deciding to let lapse a U.S. defense department contract that gave the military access to its artificial intelligence tools.

Thiel suggested the actions were “seemingly treasonous,” as he delivered the opening speech Sunday at the National Conservatism conference in Washington. He asked whether Google parent Alphabet Inc.’s AI research program or senior management had been “infiltrated” by foreign intelligence agencies.