Palantir CEO Alex Karp ‘won’t apologize’ for military work

Data analytics company Palantir has faced criticism and even protests over its work with the military, police, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but co-founder and CEO Alex Karp has no real interest in an “apology program.”

IN long profile within the New York TimesKarp told author Maureen Dowd that the corporate has “a consistently pro-Western view” and that its critics “think we should please Iran, Russia and China.”

“I’m not going to apologize for defending the U.S. government on the border, defending Special Ops, bringing people home,” he said. “I’m not going to apologize for getting our product to Ukraine, Israel, a lot of other places.”

Karp doesn’t do many interviews, so it’s interesting to see him talk at length about every little thing from his political beliefs (which he describes as “progressive but not woke”) to his friendship with Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel and his dating preferences.

But there’s only a lot he’s willing to say about Palantir’s work. When asked if the corporate played a task in locating Osama bin Laden, Karp demurred, explaining, “If you have a reputation for saying what the Pope says when you meet with him, you’ll never meet the Pope again.”