Alex Karp, whose company supplies artificial intelligence tech to the US government, says authorities should not trust the industry
Palantir CEO Alex Karp has unleashed a lengthy tirade against the AI industry, arguing that Western governments and militaries shouldn’t trust companies like OpenAI and Anthropic with sensitive data.
Karp appeared on CNBC on Wednesday to discuss Palantir’s recent infrastructure partnership with Nvidia – under which the former will sell its operating systems, powered by the latter’s hardware and AI models, to customers as an all-in-one data analytics package. However, the interview soon spiraled into a 20-minute rant from the Palantir CEO about the state of the AI industry.
Most businesses and governments who work with OpenAI and Anthropic purchase tokens from these companies, which grant access to their Large Language Models (LLMs) on a pay-as-you-go basis. While this arrangement generates vast income for the AI companies, their clients end up ripped off, Karp argued, as they hand over their money and data while gaining no control over the weights of the models – essentially the tweaks that determine the choices the models make.
“Are we really going to outsource the battlefield of this country to the consensus view in Silicon Valley?” he asked. “That is effing insane.”
Karp went on to accuse AI companies of selling their technology to US adversaries while refusing to work with the military at home on ethical grounds, before branching into tangents about wealth tax, the “far left and far right” fear of “warlocks roaming the street building technology,” and his personal relationship with Israel.
“You sound pretty angry,” anchor Becky Quick interjected at one point. “No,” Karp responded. “This is the voice of American business that is being channeled through me… the neurodivergent crazy person.”
Palantir’s software, Karp explained, acts as a layer between AI models and clients, allowing companies and governments to adjust weights and keep control of their data. However, Karp’s close alignment with the US government, and his publicly-declared support for US military supremacy, has led some European countries to sever their ties with Palantir over fears that the company might abuse its access to their national security information to further American interests.
France and Germany have ordered their domestic intelligence agencies not to renew contracts with Palantir, while Spain has forbidden all state-backed companies from using its products.
Founded by Peter Thiel in 2003 with seed money from the CIA, Palantir has an “affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation,” Karp wrote on social media earlier this year. Several months earlier, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the US government is “thinking about” acquiring a stake in several key defense contractors, including Palantir.
