Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp says employees who don’t like the company’s mission—or its dealings with Western governments and militaries—should leave.
“We want people who want to be part of the West, make the West a better society,” Karp said Wednesday at a World Economic Forum event, adding that Palantir “may not be your cup of tea.”
“You may not agree with that. Good luck. Don’t work here,” he said.
Karp said that Palantir’s mission is to defend the West and Western values against “potential enemies,” which he positioned as a more useful goal than his peers in Silicon Valley, who described the consumer internet as a “carcinogen.” Karp suggests that two-thirds of potential employees are put off by companies like Palantir.
Palantir declined to comment further.
Palantir, co-founded by Peter Thiel, has pursued deals with the US government that no other Silicon Valley company has done. Employees at 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 that uses AI to screen for drone attacks. Google agreed not to renew the contract, and is pushing tech companies to create AI ethics guidelines.
Palantir replaced Google as a Pentagon partner, and the company now has ties to the US government and its allies. Last year, Palantir renewed contacts with the US Department of Defense and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Karp has previously defended Palantir’s government contracts, telling shareholders unhappy with Palantir’s military work to “pick a different company” ahead of its IPO in 2020.
Palantir sees opportunity in a more challenging economic and geopolitical environment, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “I’m pessimistic about the future and very optimistic about what we can do to help,” Karp told CNBC on Tuesday.
The company expects to hire several hundred people this year, in line with previous expansions, Karp said Reuters on Monday.
Palantir reported $478 million in the third quarter of 2022, a 22% year-over-year increase. The company said its government revenue last year broke $1 billion for the first time. Investors are more pessimistic, but Palantir shares are down 52.6% over the past year.
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