Palantir CEO: “Don’t work here” if you don’t agree with the company’s mission
Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, says employees unhappy with the company’s mission — or its dealings with Western governments and militaries — should leave.
“We want people who are on the side of the West and want to make the West a better society,” Karp said Wednesday at an event for the World Economic Forum, continuing that Palantir “may not be your thing.”
“You may not agree with that. Health. Don’t work here,’ he said.
Karp said Palantir’s mission is to defend the West and Western values against “potential adversaries” whom he positioned as a more worthwhile target than his Silicon Valley peers and labeled the consumer internet “carcinogens.” Karp indicated that two-thirds of potential hires were turned off by companies like Palantir.
Palantir declined further comment.
Palantir, co-founded by Peter Thiel, has pursued deals with the US government that other Silicon Valley companies balked at. Employees from companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce have protested deals with US government agencies.
In 2018, Google employees signed a letter criticizing the company’s involvement in Project Maven, a Pentagon project using AI to refine drone attacks. Google agreed not to renew the contract and urged the tech company to create AI ethics guidelines.
Palantir replaced Google as the Pentagon’s partner, and the company is now playing on its ties to the US government and its allies. Over the past year, Palantir renewed contacts with both the US Department of Defense and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Karp has previously defended Palantir’s government contracts, telling shareholders that they were concerned about Palantir’s military work “picking another company” ahead of its 2020 IPO.
Palantir sees opportunities in a more difficult economic and geopolitical environment, partly triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “I’m pessimistic about the near future and very optimistic about what we can do to support this,” Karp told CNBC on Tuesday.
The company expects to hire a few hundred people this year, in line with previous expansions, Karp said Reuters on Monday.
Palantir reported revenue of $478 million for the third quarter of 2022, a 22% increase year over year. The company said government revenue surpassed $1 billion last year for the first time. However, investors are more pessimistic as Palantir stock has fallen 52.6% over the past year.
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