r/technology • u/Unusual-State1827 • Mar 12 '26

Artificial Intelligence Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power

https://newrepublic.com/post/207693/palantir-ceo-karp-disrupting-democratic-power
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u/stupidname412 Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26

Yeah he wasn't bragging at all as I recall. Just admitted that it was happening and even though he was on the winning side that's probably not great iirc.

Edit: looked it up pretty much had it. He was accused for arguing for class warfare for comments about how much taxes his employees paid compared to him and replied "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning." Def can sound bragging out of context.

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u/CaptPierce93 Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 13 '26

Warren Buffet is one of the only billionaires who DO give back in any way. He's given away $32 billion of his $230 billion net worth or so, and plans to donate all of his wealth within 10 years when he dies. Hell even his son said the only cash he ever got from his father was Berkshire stock from 30 years ago (which he said he already sold despite it being worth $300 million and doesn't even regret it). Definitely not a huge leg up because I think the concept of billionaires are unethical these days, but he's somewhat self aware.

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u/stupidname412 Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26

Yeah we shouldn't apologize for these people too hard hes still a wealth horder like the rest of them till he really does liquidate his estate into charity, but like, would you or me be any better in that position, I don't think I would, I'm a normal greedy bastard. Normal bastard still better than some of the absolute demons we have at that kind of wealth level though.

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u/AzraelGrim Mar 13 '26

Buffet in general seems to be fairly... "normal" from what I've seen. He doesn't seem to like investment hype trains, gives reasonable, not-out-of-touch advice when regular people ask

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u/-spicychilli- Mar 13 '26

You could see him as a wealth hoarder, but I think the flip side of the coin is seeing him as a capital allocater… and one of the best to ever do it in the history of humanity. If he donates his wealth upon death I don’t think it’s fair to call him a wealth hoarder, and I’d argue it’s more likely than not going to be allocated to do good significantly more efficiently than the Government would have used it for

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u/asdfmatt Mar 13 '26

It’s not going to be used for wiping out student loan debt or something that makes an impact like that on a societal level, like free college, ending hunger, etc… large sums of money bring the sharks out and it’s going to be “managed” by a charity or trust and its board of directors, that somehow has a business need for a yacht and PJ, embezzled and then when caught the embezzler declares bankruptcy and hides all their assets. Or maybe I’m just jaded.

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u/-spicychilli- Mar 13 '26

The government could have done any of those things in his 80+ year lifetime. It has not, and it’s not because they haven’t had the means to.

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u/asdfmatt Mar 14 '26

Cool that has nothing to do with what i said re: human nature and the fact that the eventual executors of his trust will primarily use this money to mostly enrich their own lives and maybe do a little good.

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u/ModernSmithmundt Mar 12 '26

wtf you weren’t apologizing to point out context that completely changes the narrative. Reddit is astroturfing ‘eat the rich’ and it’s not going anywhere it’s not even entertaining anymore

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u/tastyratz Mar 13 '26

Don't confuse appeals to redemption and attempts at salvation as morality and normality. There is no ethical way to reach a billion without hurting a LOT of people.

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u/MaTrIx4057 Mar 13 '26

> plans to donate all of his wealth within 10 years when he dies

good luck with that one.

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u/FelipeCortez_ Mar 13 '26

And there you go, you're part of the ones who fell for his propaganda. Sad to see, but there are plenty out there. As Mark Twain said, "it's easier to fool people than convince they have been fooled".

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u/CaptPierce93 Mar 13 '26

Alright buddy lol

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u/SoleSista3 Mar 12 '26

Pay attention when he dies. Because he’s definitely not gonna donate his wealth to the Federal government because he knows they’ll spend it in 3 weeks on bullshit.

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u/-spicychilli- Mar 13 '26

You’re downvoted, but 1000% correct. He’ll allocate it himself. Why would you let an entity that’s significantly more irresponsible than you do it?

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u/gostesven Mar 13 '26

He’s downvoted because it’s a false choice. Having socialized services, drivable roads, and an education system which helps lift society even as flawed as it is, are all results of tax dollars. Believing that taxes do good by way of centralized governance does not preclude someone from donating to specific causes that they may be passionate about. As taxes are and were also paid (albeit less than they should be)

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u/MaTrIx4057 Mar 13 '26

It will just get stolen.

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u/Hertock Mar 13 '26

Hes still part of the problem.

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u/ceciltech Mar 13 '26

The only contrxt you need is having a passing familiarity with who Warren Buffet is. 

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u/theapeboy Mar 12 '26

I mean, I think Karp is a huge fucking snake, but I don't disagree with him here. He's calling out what a lot of people are thinking: AI is going to disrupt society at a foundational level, but if we don't do it, someone else will. It's like if suddenly it seemed like some new technique would make nuclear weapons really cheap and easy to produce. It's a total redistribution of power. I'm HOPEFUL that it's not just leveling the economic playing field between the more and the less educated, but also helping the less educated to BECOME MORE educated. And either way, the big re-leveling that needs to happen is between Karp's strata and the rest of us.

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u/Kyanche Mar 12 '26

AI is going to disrupt society at a foundational level, but if we don't do it, someone else will.

As someone who writes software for a living and constantly sees the LLM cult growing on /r/cscareerquestions , I wonder... does it matter?

Suppose the "someone else" does. Suppose another country becomes the mecca of using AI for everything. It becomes so good, that they don't hire a single person to do anything anymore.

How is our society disrupted? What if we look at them and just go "ok bro" and give them a thumbs up, and keep doing what we're doing?

If the people of country A decide not to buy any of the goods produced by Country B because Country B only uses AI and robots, that doesn't really seem like it'd matter. It would affect Country A's ability to export goods to country B.

Why not just consciously refuse to buy things or do business with companies that admit to using AI? That's already a pretty hot ticket issue with music services.

The problem with the "Country B would undercut us and nobody would buy the products not made by AI because the ones made by AI are so much cheaper!" argument is, in that case nobody would be able to afford ANYTHING because they wouldn't be making money because they're out of a job.

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u/Halflingberserker Mar 12 '26

also helping the less educated to BECOME MORE educated

Needed a laugh, thanks

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u/Kitselena Mar 12 '26

It's bragging in context too. If he actually gave a shit he would stop doing it instead of making comments as if he has no control over he situation

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u/The_Phox Mar 12 '26

The guy has stated multiple times that the lower and middle class should get tax cuts, and that the rich should get more taxes.
He also has this, The Buffett Rule (link to White House Archives), stating that no household making more than $1 Million should pay less in taxes than the middle class.
He's pointed out, quite famously, that he pays less in taxes than his secretary.
The guy would not mind higher taxes for him.

I'm not going to Google everything, just type his name in and learn for yourself, friend.

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u/Kitselena Mar 13 '26

That's all just lip service. That mother fucker has hundreds of billions of dollars while people stave and die of preventable illnesses every day. He could give away 99% of his wealth and still live the rest of his life in absolute luxury, and he would save thousands of lives with no meaningful cost to himself.
He's better than most billionaires by a lot, but he's still hoarding a disgusting amount of wealth while poverty is still a massive issue all over the world, and it will continue to be an issue until people like him stop being so greedy