During the Yahoo Finance Invest Conference on Thursday, Palantir CEO Alex Karp is sick and tired of his critics. Escalated his counteroffensive. This move was directly targeted at analysts, journalists, and political commentators who have consistently criticized the company, viewing it as a symbol of an encroaching surveillance state or as overvalued.
TL;DR
- Palantir CEO Alex Karp defends his company's software, stating it aids workers and soldiers, not bureaucrats.
- Karp criticizes analysts and journalists, accusing them of causing financial losses for ordinary Americans with their negative views.
- He argues Palantir's success demonstrates that patriotism and technological dominance can lead to wealth.
- Karp believes his company makes America strong to prevent conflict, contrasting this with critics' surveillance state accusations.
Karp's statement: Their past and present assertions are incorrect, resulting in financial losses for Ordinary Americans.
“How often have you been right in the past?” Karp said when asked why some analysts still insist Palantir’s valuation is too high.
He said he thinks negative commentary from traditional finance people—and “their minions,” the analysts—has repeatedly failed to grasp how the company operates, and failed to grasp what Palantir’s retail base saw years earlier.
“Do you know how much money you’ve robbed from people with your views on Palantir?” He asked those analysts, arguing those who rated the stock a sell at $6, $12, or $20 pushed regular Americans out of one of tech’s biggest winners, while institutions sat on the sidelines.
“By my reckoning, Palantir is one of the only companies where the average American bought—and the average sophisticated American sold,” Karp continued, tone incredulous.
The fundamental idea behind Karp’s wider point is this kind of populist reversal: Those who label Palantir a surveillance instrument—he refers to them as “parasitic”—fail to grasp either the product or the nation that made it possible.
“Should an enterprise be parasitic? Should the host be paying to make your company larger while getting no actual value?” He questioned, drawing a line between Palantir’s pitch and what he said he sees as the “woke-mind-virus” versions of enterprise software that generate fees without changing outcomes.
Instead, Karp insists Palantir’s software is built for the welder, the truck driver, the factory technician, and the soldier—not the surveillance bureaucrat.
He characterizes the firm's efforts as facilitating “AI that actually works”: systems that enhance truck driver navigation, boost welder proficiency, assist factory personnel in handling intricate duties, and equip combatants with highly sophisticated technology “our adversaries don’t want to fight with us.”
He contends this is the antithesis of a surveillance dragnet. Instead, it functions as a national-security asset, integral to the broader American narrative. This is the understanding shared by Palantir's predominantly retail investor base: the nation's constitutional and technological framework possesses unparalleled strength, and its defense is not only ethically sound but also financially lucrative.
“Not only was the patriotism right, the patriotism will make you rich,” he said, arguing Silicon Valley only listens to ideas when they make money. Palantir’s success, in his view, is proof the combination of American military strength and technological dominance—“chips to ontology, above and below”—remains unmatched worldwide.
That, he believes, is what critics get wrong. While detractors warn Palantir fuels the surveillance state, Karp argues the company exists to prevent abuses of power—by making the U.S. So technologically dominant it rarely needs to project force.
“Our project is to make America so strong we never fight,” he said. “That’s very different than being almost strong enough, so you always fight.”
Karp savors the reversal: ‘broken-down car’ vs. ‘Beautiful Tesla’
Karp bitterly contrasted the fortunes of analysts who doubted the company with the retail investors who stuck with it.
“Nothing makes me happier,” he said, than imagining “the bank executive…cruising along in their broken-down car,” watching a truck driver or welder—“someone who didn’t go to an elite school”—drive a “beautiful Tesla” paid for with Palantir gains.
This wasn't just a figure of speech. Karp mentioned he frequently encounters ordinary employees who “are now rich because of Palantir”—and those who doubted the company's success have, in turn, become a sort of inside joke.
For years, critics, particularly those focused on civil liberties, have alleged that Palantir develops analytics software facilitating government surveillance. Karp contends these accusations are based on misrepresentations rather than reality.
“Pure ideas don’t change the world,” he said. “Pure ideas backed by military strength and economic strength do.”