Palantir, the AI giant that preaches U.S. dominance
Article content
The company's reach spans the global economy, with banks, hospitals, the U.S. government, and the Israeli military among its ever-expanding client roster.
Article content
Article content
Article content
'We want and need this country to be the strongest, most important country in the world,' Alex Karp, Palantir's CEO, recently declared at a client conference in Palo Alto, California, where AFP was the only media outlet present.
Article content
Article content
In armed conflicts — most notably in Ukraine — Palantir's tools help evaluate potential targets in real-time, using multiple sources, including biometric data and intercepted phone calls.
Article content
'I'm super proud of… what we do to protect our soldiers… (using our AI) to kill our enemies and scare them, because they know they will be killed,' the graying, curly-haired billionaire continued, wearing a tight white T-shirt.
Article content
Washington has been filling Palantir's coffers.
Article content
In the first quarter, the company received $373 million from the U.S. government — a 45 percent jump from the previous year — and it's not all military spending. This spring, federal immigration authorities (ICE) awarded the company a $30 million contract to develop a new platform for tracking deportations and visa overstays.
Article content
Article content
Article content
The company then secured an investment of nearly $800 million from the U.S. military, adding to the $480 million contract signed in May 2024 for its AI platform supporting the Pentagon's 'Project Maven' target identification program.
Article content
This marked Palantir's first billion-dollar contract, elevating it alongside government contracting stalwarts like Microsoft and Amazon's AWS.
Article content
However, financial results 'are not and will never be the ultimate measure of the value, broadly defined, of our business,' Karp wrote in his letter to shareholders in early May, where he tossed in quotes from Saint Augustine, the Bible and Richard Nixon.
Article content
'We have grander and more idiosyncratic aims.'
Article content
Palantir was founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel — Silicon Valley's preeminent conservative — Karp, and others with CIA backing. The company takes its name from the magical seeing stones in Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings.'
Article content
'Young people would say we're like pure drugs — very expensive, highly sought after… that make you stronger and better,' Karp boasted on stage.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
6 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Disguising taxes as tariffs to pay for military spending has always been Trump's plan
Donald Trump's approach to negotiating as outlined in his book 'The Art of the Deal,' is to only show the cards that you are going to discard and keep hidden those you are actually going to play. When it comes to tariffs, Trump is framing them as needed to control fentanyl, illegal immigration and build up the U.S. manufacturing industry, while claiming foreign countries are going to pay for tariffs. But these are carrots being dangled in front of the U.S. public to divert attention away from what Trump intends to pursue behind the scenes. I suspect the card that he is hiding and wants to play is to fund a huge increase in military spending. However, the U.S. has the largest absolute debt among G7 nations — about $37 trillion in 2025. In fact, its deficit this year will be more than three times that of Canada as a percentage of GDP. Many economists will tell you that U.S. debt is at critical levels and deficit increases are unsustainable.
Winnipeg Free Press
6 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Russia says it no longer will abide by its self-imposed moratorium on intermediate-range missiles
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has declared that it no longer considers itself bound by a self-imposed moratorium on the deployment of nuclear-capable intermediate range missiles, a warning that potentially sets the stage for a new arms race as tensions between Moscow and Washington rise again over Ukraine. In a statement Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry linked the decision to efforts by the U.S. and its allies to develop intermediate range weapons and preparations for their deployment in Europe and other parts of the world. It specifically cited U.S. plans to deploy Typhoon and Dark Eagle missiles in Germany starting next year. The ministry noted that such actions by the U.S. and its allies create 'destabilizing missile potentials' near Russia, creating a 'direct threat to the security of our country' and carry 'significant harmful consequences for regional and global stability, including a dangerous escalation of tensions between nuclear powers.' It didn't say what specific moves the Kremlin might take, but President Vladimir Putin has previously announced that Moscow was planning to deploy its new Oreshnik missiles on the territory of its neighbor and ally Belarus later this year. 'Decisions on specific parameters of response measures will be made by the leadership of the Russian Federation based on an interdepartmental analysis of the scale of deployment of American and other Western land-based intermediate-range missiles, as well as the development of the overall situation in the area of international security and strategic stability,' the Foreign Ministry said. The Russian statement follows President Donald Trump's announcement Friday that he's ordering the repositioning of two U.S. nuclear submarines 'based on the highly provocative statements' of Dmitry Medvedev, who was president in 2008-12 to allow Putin, bound by term limits, to later return to the office. Trump's statement came as his deadline for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal in Ukraine approaches later this week. Trump said he was alarmed by Medvedev's attitude. Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council chaired by Putin, has apparently sought to curry favor with his mentor by making provocative statements and frequently lobbing nuclear threats. Last week. he responded to Trump's deadline for Russia to accept a peace deal in Ukraine or face sanctions by warning him against 'playing the ultimatum game with Russia' and declaring that 'each new ultimatum is a threat and a step toward war.' Medvedev also commented on the Foreign Ministry's statement, describing Moscow's withdrawal from the moratorium as 'the result of NATO countries' anti-Russian policy.' 'This is a new reality all our opponents will have to reckon with,' he wrote on X. 'Expect further steps.' Intermediate-range missiles can fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). Such land-based weapons were banned under the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Washington and Moscow abandoned the pact in 2019, accusing each other of violations, but Moscow declared its self-imposed moratorium on their deployment until the U.S. makes such a move. The collapse of the INF Treaty has stoked fears of a replay of a Cold War-era European missile crisis, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union both deployed intermediate-range missiles on the continent in the 1980s. Such weapons are seen as particularly destabilizing because they take less time to reach targets, compared with intercontinental ballistic missiles, leaving no time for decision-makers and raising the likelihood of a global nuclear conflict over a false launch warning. Russia's missile forces chief has declared that the new Oreshnik intermediate range missile, which Russia first used against Ukraine in November, has a range to reach all of Europe. Oreshnik can carry conventional or nuclear warheads. Putin has praised the Oreshnik's capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to Mach 10 are immune to being intercepted and are so powerful that the use of several of them in one conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack. Putin has warned the West that Moscow could use it against Ukraine's NATO allies who allowed Kyiv to use their longer-range missiles to strike inside Russia. ___ The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape:
Winnipeg Free Press
36 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
NATO to coordinate regular and large-scale arm deliveries to Ukraine. Most will be bought from US
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO started coordinating regular deliveries of large weapons packages to Ukraine after the Netherlands said it would provide air defense equipment, ammunition and other military aid worth 500 million euros ($578 million), most bought from the U.S. Two deliveries are expected this month. The equipment that will be provided is based on Ukraine's priority needs on the battlefield. NATO allies then locate the weapons and ammunition and send them on. 'Packages will be prepared rapidly and issued on a regular basis,' NATO said late Monday Air defense systems are in greatest need. The United Nations has said that Russia's relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front line has killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians. Russia's bigger army is also making slow but costly progress along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Currently, it is waging an operation to take the eastern city of Pokrovsk, a logistical hub whose fall could allow it to drive deeper into Ukraine. European allies and Canada are buying most of the equipment they plan to send from the United States, which has greater stocks of ready military materiel, as well as more effective weapons. The Trump administration is not giving any arms to Ukraine. The new deliveries will come on top of other pledges of military equipment. The Kiel Institute, which tracks support to Ukraine, estimates that as of June, European countries had provided 72 billion euros ($83 billion) worth of military aid since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, compared to $65 billion in U.S. aid. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said that 'American air defense systems and munitions, in particular, are crucial for Ukraine to defend itself.' Announcing the deliveries Monday, he said Russia's attacks are 'pure terror, intended to break Ukraine.' Germany said Friday that it will deliver two more Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine in the coming days. It agreed to the move after securing assurances that the U.S. will prioritize the delivery of new Patriots to Germany to backfill its stocks. These weapon systems are only made in the U.S.
