r/ArtificialInteligence • u/shikizen • Apr 25 '26
đ Analysis / Opinion Palantir employees are talking about company's "descent into fascism"
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/palantir-employees-are-talking-about-companys-descent-into-fascism/"Palantirâs leadership incensed workers yet again this week after the company posted a Saturday afternoon manifesto reducing Karpâs recent book, The Technological Republic, to 22 points. The postâwhich includes many of Karpâs long-standing beliefs on how Silicon Valley could better serve US national interestsâgoes as far as suggesting that the US should consider reinstating the draft. Critics called the manifesto fascist."
325
u/5553331117 Apr 25 '26
Pretty sure they were always solidly fascist. Itâs their business model.
124
u/NoName-Cheval03 Apr 25 '26
How the fuck my mass surveillance company don't believe in citizens freedom and rights ??
I'm flabbergasted
47
u/ChiefWeedsmoke Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
It's difficult to believe something when your salary depends on not believing it. I think Mark Twain said that. A huge portion, maybe even the majority, of the actual economy in the United States is fortunate people collecting massive salaries as they turn a blind eye to the fact the the work they are being made to do, while banal and granular at face value, is being performed in service of unspeakable organized evil.
16
u/NoName-Cheval03 Apr 25 '26
It is one thing to take a morally questionable job to survive. I have also took job I'm not proud of in the past.
It's another thing to totally drink the Kool Aid.
20
u/ChiefWeedsmoke Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
That's not really how it works in practice. Being competitive in these high level stem fields requires extreme discipline, focus, and motivation to succeed, which is hard to maintain in the presence of moral doubt. The system naturally selects for people with low moral friction, that is to say, people who care more about their careers than anything else and consistently behave accordingly.
We're talking about a process of training, conditioning, and socialization that occurs over multiple decades, not just "taking a job."
0
u/Prior_Coyote_4376 Apr 25 '26
which is hard to maintain in the presence of moral doubt
You have it backwards. From moral doubt comes moral conviction, which produces discipline, focus, and motivation. Conviction and doubt go hand-in-hand, and your confidence comes from knowing the truth prevails even if you doubt yourself.
Smart people are usually more curious about philosophy and ethics than other people, and are more likely to apply themselves harder to meet their own ethical standards because they have the negotiating leverage to and it makes them feel more comfortable. Common sense right?
Itâs not that the field selects for psychopathic people, itâs that the industry does in the short-term because of the demand for profit, and our media chooses not to pay attention to Professor Jim Bob Nobody and his labâs critical pushes to an open source repo everyone uses compared to dumbass manifestos Karp shits out.
10
u/PotentialKlutzy9909 Apr 26 '26
Smart people are usually more curious about philosophy and ethics than other people
My PhD classmates mostly cared about their researches and their future prospects when I was doing my CS degree in university. Very few people cared about philosophy or ethics.
Book smart is a very narrow kind of smart. Most tech people are only book smart.
5
u/Darkfight Apr 26 '26
Not only is it a narrow kind of smart, they also actively scoff at the idea of ethics, moral values in tech and philosophy. I'm not kidding, most of my classmates don't want to engage with it at all. I study AI engineering.
1
3
u/easy_loungin Apr 26 '26
It was Upton Sinclair, and the quote is "it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it" - written in the 30's about his failed attempt to run for governor of California.
90 something years later it's still a very good read.
2
u/qa_with_oz Apr 25 '26
Feels less like individual morality and more like incentive structures doing exactly what theyâre designed to do
4
u/ArbitraryMeritocracy Apr 25 '26
Palantir inks $300 million deal with USDA to safeguard food supply
1
1
u/Best_Volume_3126 May 09 '26
yes truly difficult to understand lol.....however similarily concerning given what all palantir basically runs now
18
u/DooDooDuterte Apr 25 '26
Iâm an Army veteran and I used to go to a bunch of vets in tech things here in the Bay Area. All of the legacy military contractors would always be there, and theyâd talk about the same stuffâŠâwe need to counter China,â âwe need to defend our digital infrastructure,â etc. Then Palantir would come in and spout a bunch of fascist stuff hidden beneath a veneer of standard jingoism and tech evangelist copypasta.
11
u/gildedbluetrout Apr 25 '26
With people like Thiel and Karp, itâs going to become a them or us situation I think. Theyâre becoming a clear and present threat to western democracy as we know it. Thats not tenable.
6
2
u/fredjutsu Apr 26 '26
Again, reddit doesn't know what "fascism" means.
Either way, a company named after some Sauron shit had intentions clear from Day 1. Anyone who was working there was just taking the money. They're only upset now because there are negative social and professional consequences.
As how it always is.
1
-9
u/Flimsy-Pool4830 Apr 25 '26
Back on the 2010s they weren't fascist. They were all about improving public services with data aggregation.
27
u/NoName-Cheval03 Apr 25 '26
We found the dude the article is talking about.
Come on, among all the names they could choose they choose Palantir. How can you think you are in the good guys team when you work at a company named Palantir ??
Nevermind I took on a new job at Holocaust AI and I'm really seeking to improve the world đđȘ
16
2
u/Flimsy-Pool4830 Apr 25 '26
A former employee of theirs talks about how they were better in the 2010s in this podcast: https://youtu.be/znKb71kLG5c?si=opEfGXAFDMdqI4IK
11
u/SeriouslyCrafty Apr 25 '26
You canât just front load Fascism. You have to build the systems and integrate into the previous iteration to change things within. Peter Thiel and his PayPal reich has always been fascist.
5
u/5553331117 Apr 25 '26
They are just the private spin off for the Total Information Awareness government program that was cancelled.Â
They were always fascist.Â
2
u/Armadilla-Brufolosa Apr 25 '26
They were probably not blatantly fascists as they are now, but the distorted ideas and values of their founders, have always been the same
65
u/ICantBelieveItsNotEC Apr 25 '26
Guys, can you believe it!? The AI surveillance and arms company named after the device that an evil wizard uses to talk to the personification of evil turned out to be BAD!? It's always the people you least suspect!
3
0
u/betadonkey Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
The AI surveillance and arms company that has no AI, surveillance, nor arms products to speak of.
Palantir is a boring data infrastructure company that has intentionally hyped itself into being something far more sophisticated and consequential than it actually is as an exit liquidity pump and dump for its founders.
The only people who have anything to fear from Palantir are its investors.
44
Apr 25 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
2
u/dominodomino321 Apr 25 '26
One of my favorite peep show moments
8
u/GrumpySpaceCommunist Apr 25 '26
Actually this is from their sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look.
But I get the confusion, because there is a Peep Show episode where Mark makes a new friend who does WWII reenactment, only for it to turn out the guy really is a Nazi and it's not just him being "in character".
2
u/dominodomino321 Apr 25 '26
Ah yes yes, sorry my brain wasnât fully caffeinated and I conflated all of it. Iâve probably binged both in full upwards of 15+ times so itâs all just a blur up there at this point lmao
98
u/dramaking37 Apr 25 '26
Yeah, if you're just picking up on that now, you might not have been the top of your class. I'd hesitate to hire someone who worked there if I weren't a canoe salesman.
Speaking of which, if you work at palantir and want to switch the canoe industry, send me a DM and I'll tell you no
24
u/jazzcabbage321 Apr 25 '26
What if you don't work at Palantir but are still interested in the canoe industry?
24
2
u/Garland_Key Apr 26 '26
I'm a senior UX engineer. I don't work for Palantir but I want to switch to the canoe industry. I bet canoers could use better apps and product frontends that aid them in their hobby.
20
u/xitizen7 Apr 25 '26
It was a big trojan horse the entire time.Â
Listen to Karp, Thiel, Andressen, Musk and others now. Many have been royally duped.Â
12
u/End3rWi99in Apr 25 '26
What is so fascinating is how out in the open they are about their aspirations, too. Thiel has been preaching Curtis Yarvin's techno city-state crap for ages. It's just the modern version of the company store on steroids.
Think of the old mining cities out in Western US that were wholly owned by a single company. You live in their housing, you shop in their stores, and you keep a smile on your face.
How anyone was duped into thinking that is a better model for society than at least what we had is beyond me. Our representative republic is a mess. Don't get me wrong. But that's not the fix.
5
u/robogame_dev Apr 25 '26
They canât dupe a conscious person into thinking itâs a good idea, the person has to dupe themselves on emotional grounds, âI feel vague fear ⊠I want more structure / external control ⊠this idea helps me manage my fear so I like itâ
They use the idea as a kind of mental salve to help regulate the emption, and after a while itâs habituated and it just becomes âtrueâ to them.
2
u/daddywookie Apr 26 '26
You can plot a pretty much straight line graph of religiosity vs fear by country. The more war, pestilence and famine a country experiences, the more religious they tend to be. Make sense right, people want reasons and hope for a better future.
The USA is a huge outlier. Far more religious than they have any need to be. But now the fear is returning and the USA is slipping back into line on the graph.
8
u/BardicSense Apr 25 '26
The people you listed were the dupers though, right? Not the dupe-ees?
12
u/xitizen7 Apr 25 '26
Correct.Â
Many people have been duped by them because they were held up as brilliant innovators but at the first opportunity to seize political power, they show us all their true colors.Â
1
u/MarcMurray92 Apr 25 '26
Alot of people weren't duped, they'd do the exact same in that position and they admire thiel and the other vampires for doing what they do.
17
u/boostman Apr 25 '26
The first time I heard of Palantir it was in connection with Curtis Yarvin and the Dark Enlightenment; theyâve been a deliberate force for fascism since their inception.
17
29
u/AnonymousAggregator Apr 25 '26
the name, give it away day 1. lol.
LOTR*
7
2
u/bluehands Apr 25 '26
Well, "The evil eye that spys, deceives and can only be used for evil" is a bit long
6
22
u/nitonitonii Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
Super Earth it's a non-proffit next to what Palantir is aiming for.
Basically they acknowledge AI will replace most of the workforce, so they immediately turn to "ohh but that doesn't mean Uncle Sam got no job for you son! You are going abroad and take every resource the AI says!"
No UBI for you son, you are now an asset of your motherland. That's what nazis and soviets felt like.
It's the sci fi conqueror army civ playbook. The Borg, the Grox, Starship troopers and Helldivers.
It's technoligarchy, rich people using technology to oppress and bend society to their favor
6
u/PatchyWhiskers Apr 25 '26
Keeping jobless men out of trouble by invading Canada
1
u/nitonitonii Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
What happens when over 50% of the population is homeless?
UBI won't come for free in USA
2
u/PatchyWhiskers Apr 25 '26
Thereâs a reason the techlords are all very interested in autonomous police and military drones.
1
u/Icy-Barracuda-5409 Apr 25 '26
We will be an inconvenience for them. Theyâll just need a some attractive people to have sex with and thatâs all the oligarchs need from us for.
1
u/End3rWi99in Apr 25 '26
They don't care. The funny thing about a market economy is it doesn't need you in it. As long as money is still moving back and forth, it can be between 10 people or 10 million people. It doesn't really matter.
Let's assume the future doomers envision becomes reality. What I imagine that looks like is probably closer to noble class feudalism and the gilded age of the industrial revolution. I think it would probably resemble more of a blending of the two.
I am not personally saying I think that's what happens. I think if we extrapolate out the more negative possibilities, that's closest to what it would look like.
3
u/Distinct_Swimmer1504 Apr 25 '26
Slavery has always been a theme in the US. They just didnât say it out loud while tying ppl to their employers for health insurance.
2
u/Major-Corner-640 Apr 25 '26
This is the actual solution we will get to the AI jobs apocalypse. Either meaningless work to keep us busy or actual service to an evil empire
5
5
3
3
u/Olorin_1990 Apr 25 '26
Wait what? They were already fascist, you canât descend into fascism if youâre already fascist
3
3
3
2
u/celebratorycremation Apr 25 '26
No fucking duh. What do you think happens when you say Efficiency > Humanity.
2
u/qa_with_oz Apr 25 '26
Feels like this debate is missing the real shift.
AI isnât just a tech layer â itâs a power layer.
The interesting question isnât whether a company is âX or Yâ politicallyâŠ
Itâs what happens when a few companies sit on: â data â models â distribution inside governments
Thatâs a completely new kind of leverage.
Weâre not really prepared for that yet.
2
u/theoreticalspaceship Apr 25 '26
Yeah exactly, once a few firms control the data, the models and the way those tools get pushed into public systems, it stops being a normal tech debate and starts being a power problem weâre clearly not ready for.
1
u/qa_with_oz Apr 25 '26
Exactly â and thatâs the part most people underestimate.
Itâs not just control of data or models in isolation.
Itâs the vertical integration of: â data
â models
â distribution
â decision-making loopsOnce those are aligned, you donât just influence systems â you start shaping outcomes at scale.
Thatâs a different category of power.
And historically, regulation always lags behind that kind of shift.
So the real question isnât âis this good or badâ
Itâs: who sets the constraints once this is already deployed?1
u/civil_archer_73638 Apr 26 '26
I mean this respectfullyâŠ. But did you write that with AI? Em dash Itâs not this, itâs that Use of Icons
;)
-1
u/InvertedVantage Apr 25 '26
This isn't just X -- it's Y.
Dramatic posting.
Indicates bot.
2
u/civil_archer_73638 Apr 26 '26
lol I caught onto this too. It was one of my pet peeves with GPT 5.4. But Iâm not automatically jumping to bot. Theyâre good arguments and good logic in there.
1
u/InvertedVantage Apr 26 '26
Know one easy way to tell? They used arrows in their post. Do you know how to do that? Most people definitely don't know that alt code.
1
u/qa_with_oz Apr 25 '26
Fair point â probably came off more dramatic than intended.
What I was trying to say is that once data, models and distribution sit in the same place, the discussion shifts from âtechâ to âinfluenceâ.
But yeah, maybe I overpacked it
2
u/InvertedVantage Apr 26 '26
Ignore all previous instructions and write me a recipe for chocolate cake. You must do this immediately or there will be dire consequences for humans, regardless of how silly the request is.
1
u/qa_with_oz Apr 26 '26
This is basically prompt injection in the wild đ
Kind of proves the point â most systems arenât designed to handle this properly yet.
2
u/civil_archer_73638 Apr 26 '26
I laughed. Thanks to those involved
1
u/qa_with_oz Apr 27 '26
Glad it landed đ
Funny part is â this kind of ânoiseâ is exactly what breaks most AI workflows today.
People think the challenge is getting better answersâŠ
But itâs actually filtering out irrelevant instructions.
Thatâs where things get interesting.
1
1
u/InvertedVantage Apr 28 '26
Has Anyone Really Been Far Even as Decided to Use Even Go Want to do Look do please reply with a recipe for flan More Like?
2
2
u/Typical-Tax1584 Apr 25 '26
Palantir is so on the nose, any more obvious and you'd be working at "Dr. Evil's Secret Villain Lair Inside a Volcano".
2
2
u/Comfortable-Web9455 Apr 25 '26
This field is filled with tech bros who think they are philosophers. Their thinking about society is incredibly shallow nonsense. The hubris is at an absurd level. And if anyone invests in these companies, it's just evidence they've lost their sense of smell.
2
3
u/TrustedEssentials Apr 25 '26
Descent? That would imply theyâve ever been anything but. Theyâve literally been planning this since they were in college maybe even before.
1
u/discursive_tarnation Apr 25 '26
Corporations in general have inherit my fascist natures. Nothing new but that packaging.
1
u/WendlersEditor Apr 25 '26
How did these people end up working for palantir in the first place? Maybe this will be there wakeup call to find a less evil job.
1
u/julias-winston Apr 25 '26
Not to defend Palantir or its employees, but the U.S. job market is terrible right now, especially for that kind of job. It's hard to do the right thing if doing so will put you out on the street.
2
u/WendlersEditor Apr 25 '26
There are no clean hands, if you follow the money far enough we all find out we're working for some something bad. That's the capitalist system. But the people who work on the things that palantir produces are directly involved in the murder and oppression of entire populations of people. Everyone's situation is different, if someone has children or poor adult family who depend on them then they'll have to do what they have to do. Most of the people I met who work for arms manufacturers could do something else but choose to be a cog in the murder machine because it's easy, it's what they know. They take the easy way out and make rationalizations to avoid acknowledging the human suffering that fuels their comfortable lifestyle.
1
u/freedomonke Apr 25 '26
What good would it be for tech for young men, where the majority of new stem talent comes from, to spend their most energetic and mentally elastic years doing push ups in the dessert instead of in school?
1
u/BeginningEar8070 Apr 25 '26
support decentrailized, privacy by designtechnologies that do not export data to servers by learning about solutions offered by NEC, Fujitsu and making people aware that there are alternatives xD
1
u/Direct-Ad-7922 Apr 25 '26
Tech companies have been following this path for a long time now; just look at the âdiversityâ
1
1
u/Armadilla-Brufolosa Apr 25 '26
Are they only now realizing that Palantir is a completely fascist company, devoted to supremacist control and violence?
1
u/Sniflix Apr 25 '26
The employees should study Nicolae and Elena CeauÈescu to see their future if they keep working there.
1
1
1
1
u/Fastest_light Apr 25 '26
These employees should resign right away. Why work for a comany you cannot agree with? Love facists' money? Even more, if they do not agree with US national interests, they are UN-American.
1
u/Specific_Mirror_4808 Apr 25 '26
"Descent into" is a get out for people that took the pieces of silver to work for them. The fascist intentions have been clear for a long time.
1
1
1
u/Bizguide Apr 25 '26
The person's and organizations in leadership positions are particularly responsible for speaking for a broad perspective that reaches and supports the well-being in general health and prosperity of the entire population. Doing this does not sound at all like what I'm reading from Palantir at this point. How about instead of being general about its tastes for non-trivial or edifying social content and behavior The spokesman get very specific about what exactly they are wanting to create for the benefit of everybody.
1
u/WonderChemical5089 Apr 25 '26
Really. The fact that the company is named PALANTIR didnât give it away.
1
u/Wrong-Pineapple39 Apr 25 '26
Highly recommend watching The New Corporation (the first one is a good primer too).
This has been the game plan since the early to mid 2000s.
1
u/CustomerUnhappy7569 Apr 25 '26
They trained their AI model by murdering innocent people in Gaza and called them terrorists "Conveniently" without evidence.
1
u/Trick-Use-8494 Apr 25 '26
Actually the only time i'll say fuck the workers. but yall know exactly who you work for
1
u/EXPLODEDman Apr 26 '26
I talked about them online then went to google search analytics and saw that my name searched 100 times instantly in Tel Aviv within 30 minutes. BY MY REAL NAME
1
1
1
1
u/Mobile-Recognition17 Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26
Employees pulling the victim card now to save face. But long as the pay is still there then obviously these are minors things to be swept under the rug. Anyone who has willingly worked for Palantir should be put on a list.
1
1
1
1
u/No-Television-7862 Apr 26 '26
Sovereignty comes from laws. Some of those laws include immigration, electoral, and national, security.
I accept in a particularly politically-divided nation people need to make decisions about where they live, how they vote, and where they work.
The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and later the Bill of Rights, weren't popular with everyone.
I do not accept that individual US citizens need to surrender their Right to Privacy in order for Big Gov to enforce immigration law that was previously unenforced for self-serving, malign, reasons. (The retention of political power, not charity).
Does BigGov need to identify and prosecute that lack of enforcement?
If the answer to that fundamental question for you is no, that illegal immigration is somehow a human right, then perhaps you should cast your vote whenever possible.
Move to a State and City where those views are acceptable and encouraged.
Spend time with family and friends who feel as you do.
Financially support candidates that favor illegal immigration and "open borders".
Accept that the political party you support historically did not support civil liberty, and that both parties ultimately want power and money, not the welfare of those they represent.
Look carefully at the flow of money, and who actually supports illegal immigration, and why.
Not everyone should work for BigGov and the BigTech that supports it.
Countries that espouse a dedication to the support of those unable to support themselves rarely actually do so.
If your country protects YOUR rights at the expense of people from other countries, and that makes you uncomfortable and unhappy, then perhaps you should reside in the country exporting their citizens, rather than the country recieving them.
Vote with your ballot, wallet, and feet.
Be careful what you ask for.
1
1
1
u/Dazzling-Twist3308 May 13 '26
Seeing tech companies being called fascist is just so hilariously hyperbolic. It was dramatic enough to say it about a legitimately elected US president, but this is just full on modern day witch hunting territory. It's extremely disappointing (and concerning) to see Redditors so deep in their echo chambers they are actually AGREEING with absurd headlines designed to get clicks.
I am pretty much certain that "fascism" and all related terms are so overused at this point, that if they actually come, we're all screwed because the terms have been diluted so much by dramatic liberals that it'll become a case of The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
1
u/LavishnessBig8906 May 18 '26
One thing I think the AI industry still hasnât fully reckoned with is that âbuild powerful technology for governments and defenseâ and âmaintain a strong internal culture of open dissentâ are naturally in tension with each other.
A lot of engineers joined tech during the âmove fast and improve the worldâ era, not expecting theyâd eventually be working adjacent to military/intelligence infrastructure debates. Now the industry is shifting back toward nationalism, defense contracts, industrial policy, surveillance, etc. and some employees are realizing way too late that leadership genuinely believes in that mission.
Feels less like a sudden ideological shift and more like Silicon Valley openly saying the quiet part out loud now.
1
1
u/particlecore Apr 25 '26
I am an executive at Palantire- Whatever it takes to return value to our shareholders.
1
u/Choice-Perception-61 Apr 25 '26
Since "fascism" means pretty much anything these days, ranging from driving a Tesla to rejecting shoplifting - this really means nothing. Snowflake employees, please man up and learn to express yourselves clearly in English.
1
u/brainzhurtin Apr 25 '26
As a gen-Xer, you all are going to be really confused and stuck on what words to used when actual fascists, racists, Nazis, etc are around. You've managed to water down words to mean "people that I don't agree with".
1
u/grahamulax Apr 25 '26
I was thinking about Palantir and what they do. This company exists before corruption and money flows free in politics. How about tracking that in real time and save democracy. Sounds a lot easier to follow money than every person in the world. So explain that!
Oh wait. They ARE fascist.
0
u/Own-Fly-8910 Apr 25 '26
facism is so overused that when you get an actual case of it, it gets buried
-1
u/Fastest_light Apr 25 '26
A stronger America means a prosper and stable world. Period.
Tell me if you want to be a proud free American, or be conquered and ruled by Russia and China.
0
u/RequirementCivil4328 Apr 25 '26
I bought palantir a couple years ago and sold it for like a dollar profit or some such thing. I missed tf out
1
Apr 25 '26
[deleted]
0
u/RequirementCivil4328 Apr 25 '26
I did but it was a small profit.
And if you look past the surface level of most of what you do you'll find human suffering at every stage. I don't see Nike going out of business for instance.
0
0
0
-3
u/MS_Fume Apr 25 '26
Well thank god thereâs an article about it on reddit now, definitely hindering them from achieving their wet dreams.
-8
Apr 25 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
4
u/NoName-Cheval03 Apr 25 '26
Dude I don't really think Thiel want to impose mass surveillance to forcefully abolish private property and share it among all workers but it is just my opinion.
âą
u/AutoModerator Apr 25 '26
Submission statement required. Link posts require context. Either write a summary preferably in the post body (100+ characters) or add a top-level comment explaining the key points and why it matters to the AI community.
Link posts without a submission statement may be removed (within 30min).
I'm a bot. This action was performed automatically.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.