Palantir: Why its political manifesto is causing a stir

In his book The Technological Republic, Alex Karp lays out his take on the world, opening it with a blunt warning that Silicon Valley has lost its sense of direction. And Karp is not just anyone. The billionaire was recently included in Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people worldwide. He is also the CEO of the controversial data analytics software company Palantir Technologies. Over the weekend, Palantir used its official corporate account on X to post a summary of Karp's book in 22 bullet points. The thread reads like a political manifesto by the company — and has sparked debate in both tech and political circles. What are the main takeaways? In its post, Palantir positions itself at the intersection of technology and security policy, voicing sweeping opinions that fall into the following broad categories: • Geopolitics and security policy: "The atomic age is ending," it states, signaling that deterrence will no longer be achieved through nuclear weapons in the future, but through artificial-intelligence-based systems. And it goes even further: "The question is not whether AI weapons will be built; it is who will build them and for what purpose." Adversaries will not get lost in theatrical debates, but will press forward. Elsewhere, Palantir highlights the need for software-enabled hard power: "The limits of soft power, of soaring rhetoric alone, have been exposed." Moreover, it says American power has enabled an extraordinarily long period of peace. At times, the manifesto is politically specific: "The postwar neutering of Germany and Japan must be undone." It says that Europe, weakly armed to this day, is paying a high price for Germany's disarmament after World War II. And if the "highly theatrical commitment to Japanese pacifism" continues, a power shift in Asia looms. • The relationship between society and politics: Palantir says it is currently "forbidden" to discuss the differing track records of various "cultures." It argues that America must resist the temptation of "vacant and hollow pluralism." Both points resonate with the MAGA ideology championed by US President Donald Trump and his circle. However, Palantir avoids openly pandering to this ideology, as some influential voices in Silicon Valley tend to. "The psychologization of modern politics is leading us astray," it states, arguing that those looking to the political arena to nourish their soul and sense of self will end up disappointed. Elsewhere, the company calls for pausing to reflect, rather than celebrating, when defeating enemies. • The role of the tech sector: It repeatedly zooms in on the relationship between tech companies and the US government: "Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible," is its opening argument. Palantir advocates thinking beyond the "tyranny" of apps, instead promoting a tech economy that generates growth and security. "Silicon Valley must play a role in addressing violent crime," states the company, which sells its products to law enforcement agencies around the world. What do critics say? Economist and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis shared the original post with the comment: "If Evil could tweet, this is what it would!" Dutch populism researcher Cas Mudde described Palantir's thread as a call for a world dominated by an authoritarian United States and controlled by tech surveillance companies, labelling it "Technofascism pure!" On LinkedIn, Mudde said its worldview disqualifies Palantir as a business partner. Europe should not only halt any new cooperation but "should divest from this technofascist company ASAP!"Based on CEO Alex Karp’s book, Palantir published 22 ideas on its official X accountImage: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images Eliot Higgins, the British blogger and founder of the investigative platform Bellingcat, shared an extract of Palantir's world vision with the ironic remark that it was "extremely normal and fine" for companies to make such statements. What exactly is Palantir? The name Palantir comes from J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings." In the story, there are the so-called "seeing stones," powerful communication tools used by the villains who seek to subjugate the free peoples of Middle-earth. Co-founder and key investor is Peter Thiel, whose support is viewed as instrumental in the political rise of Donald Trump. Thiel was born in Frankfurt, Germany, where, incidentally, Alex Karp later lived for several years.US investor Peter Thiel is behind Palantir — and also helped launch the political career of Donald TrumpImage: Marco Bello/Getty Images On its website, Palantir promotes software designed to support real-time decision-making by governments and companies — "from the factory floors to the front lines." Who uses the surveillance software? Many government agencies in the US use Palantir — for example, the Army Vantage program was developed specifically as an operating system for the US Army. During the war against Iran, the AI-powered target acquisition software Maven provided data for numerous airstrikes. With AI support, Maven is designed to shorten the so-called 'kill chain' — that is, the decision-making process and thus the time between identifying a military target and attacking them. It is unclear whether the attack on Tehran shown in the image was carried out using MavenImage: Social Media/REUTERS The data analysis platform Foundry is used by government agencies in the US and Europe for various purposes. The Netherlands and Greece, for example, used the service to track the spread of the coronavirus. Probably the best-known Palantir application is called Gotham and is used by security agencies to quickly gather information about individuals from public and non-public sources. Here, too, US agencies such as the CIA and ICE are key clients, as are European security agencies. Several regional police forces in German states also use modified versions of Palantir, including those in Hesse and Bavaria. In North Rhine-Westphalia, a multi-year contract is set to expire in October — the state has issued a new call for bids for investigative software, in which Palantir and its competitors can take part. The Bavarian police software VeRA is a stripped-down version of Gotham designed to meet German data protection standards — but the German government is looking to expand its use of AI-powered surveillanceImage: Peter Kneffel/dpa/picture alliance The German government is also currently planning to introduce a law that would allow software to scan vast amounts of publicly available data — such as voices and faces in social media posts — and create biometric profiles from it. This would facilitate investigations by security agencies using Palantir or competing applications. Critics, however, view this as a step toward a surveillance state. This article was originally published in German.