Leidos, Microsoft announce AI 'strategic collaboration'

Leidos and Microsoft announced today they have entered into a "strategic collaboration agreement" to work on government artificial intelligence efforts.

"A near-term priority for co-development is in the area of generative AI solutions to support organizational efficiency, enhanced productivity and cross domain applications," a Leidos statement reads.

Steve Hull, Leidos executive vice president for enterprise and cyber solutions, said: "This agreement will help enable co-innovation utilizing the latest cloud and AI technologies."

Leidos recently completed a successful migration of 20 critical support applications from an on-premise data center to Microsoft’s Azure Government cloud environment in support of the Navy. This migration was part of Leidos’ ongoing support of the Navy’s Next Generation Enterprise Network Service Management, Integration and Transport (SMIT) program, enabling the service to monitor, maintain and secure the Navy and Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) "with increased efficiency and collaboration without compromising security," according to the Leidos statement.

"Our collaboration with Leidos will help accelerate adoption of cloud-driven solutions to improve our customers’ operations," said Angela Heise, corporate vice president of Microsoft's worldwide public sector business unit. “Leidos’ expertise in national security operations coupled with Microsoft’s advanced cloud, cyber, and AI technologies will enable our two organizations to develop innovative solutions to address a wide range of complex challenges faced by public sector organizations around the world.”