Palantir Technologies, CEO Alex Karp
& the New Era of Tech Defense Contractors
- AZ TRT S06 EP05 (266) 3-9-2025
What We Learned This Week
- Palantir - AI powered automation for every decision
- Palantir is named after the all seeing stone in Lord of the Rings
- Software integrates with company software to allow for searching and use of big data
- Palantir mission is for more accountability within Government
- Palantir has contracts with the U.S. Government helping with security and fighting terrorism
Notes:
Palantir Technologies & CEO Alex Karp
Karp background in academics and philosophy, also Stanford law
Palantir founders Karp & Joe Lonsdale worked together at PayPal, funded by Peter Thiel
Was not profitable for 3 years - one of the secrets of Silicon Valley, build around an idea, work on how you’re going to make money off of it later
Passion project, so need people who are dedicated, not just money driven
Every text, email, business, it has all data and need to save somewhere
Big data and data centers are one of the fastest growing industries and along with machine learning affect so many aspects of our life, both business, and personal
Dataset and Data mining are thriving industries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies
Palantir Technologies Inc. is an American publicly traded company that specializes in software platforms[3] for big data analytics. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, it was founded by Peter Thiel,[4] Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale,[5] and Alex Karp in 2003.
The company has four main projects: Palantir Gotham, Palantir Foundry, Palantir Apollo, and Palantir AIP. Palantir Gotham is an intelligence and defense tool used by militaries and counter-terrorism analysts. Its customers included the United States Intelligence Community (USIC) and United States Department of Defense.[6] Their software as a service (SaaS) is one of five offerings authorized for Mission Critical National Security Systems (IL5[7]) by the U.S. Department of Defense.[8][9] Palantir Foundry is used for data integration and analysis by corporate clients such as Morgan Stanley, Merck KGaA, Airbus, Wejo, Lilium, PG&E and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.[10] Palantir Apollo is a platform to facilitate continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) across all environments.[11][12]
Palantir's original clients were federal agencies of the USIC. It has since expanded its customer base to serve both international as well as state and local governments, and also to private companies.[13]
Palantir software connects data, analytics, and operations to help organizations make decisions and improve efficiency. Palantir's software is used by government agencies and commercial enterprises.
How Palantir works
1. Connects data: Palantir connects to data systems, data lakes, and platforms.
2. Analyzes data: Palantir analyzes data to find trends, relationships, and anomalies.
3. Visualizes data: Palantir visualizes data to help users understand insights.
4. Automates processes: Palantir automates processes to help users save time and improve efficiency.
5. Improves decision-making: Palantir helps users make better decisions by providing data-driven insights.
Palantir has multiple platforms, including:
· Palantir Gotham: Used by government agencies to detect patterns and derive insights from large amounts of data
· Palantir Foundry: Used by commercial enterprises to integrate data, perform simulations, and optimize workflows
· Palantir AIP: Used to deploy large language models and other AI within a private network
Failure of 911 terrorist attacks where government organizations were not sharing information. Government has to be able to sift through large amounts of data, looking for a terrorist network, the old needle in a haystack. Software allows government to go thru data, and also share information.
In the past governments could run spy networks only, now with computer hackers, it could be run by anybody with a computer. Hard to search for terrorist, very creative. In carps view, you have to think like an entrepreneur and be tactical when going after them.
Cannot think in a static fashion, how did they do it in the past. When a terrorist is caught using a cell phone, they adapt to figure out how do they get caught and then use a different method. It’s like game theory, you have to think ahead of the terrorist and find their patterns before they even realize they are leaving pattern.
Terrorist may think in different terms that society deems as destructive, but it still may be very creative, almost like an entrepreneur. Per carp, you need creative and adaptive thinkers to go after the bad guys.
Cyber war is a real threat and not going anywhere. Need the government to combat it, but also must watch what the government is doing to not trample on civil liberties. Need to be able to track the data to see how the government went about things and did its targeting.
Data destruction & Tag data - Know where the data came from, so government can use it lawfully.
You do not want to share data with the government, and then have the government use it against you.
Because of technology and computers spying is democracized, a group of three teenagers at a coffee shop can launch a cyber attack. Systems can track down where these terrorists are, and show you the patterns of who they might be even if they can identify them directly.
Government and large health insurance companies already have a lot of data. The question is, how are they using it, is it being used in a lawful way?
With Palantir software, you cannot only look for the terrorist, but you can also watch how the government uses the data
Can use Palantir software on top of current software to work through data
Palantir and SpaceX companies – achieved $ Billion dollar valuation Unicorn status
Funded at loss for years, took decade to get Govt contracts
Name comes from the seeing stone in Lord of the Rings
Powerful technology, that can help watch over the world, has massive, ethical implications
Software helps government and businesses look over data and watch on people, but can infringe on privacy - Paradox of security vs freedom
Also raises questions about privacy, verse convenience, a kin to the issue with current social media
Solve terrorism problem in big way
Fight terrorism on a large scale, verse just smaller tactics with airport security
Fight terrorism at the high-level, verse low level tech with airport security and other measures that are very cumbersome and overbearing
Coordinate resources better
Hard to start in defense company, and this is the next generation
Palantir is coming up with a simple high-tech solution, to handle a serious and complicated problem
Pre-911, government not prepared or organized to handle global terrorist threat, and many of the solutions were over the top and heavy handed
Company provides targeted efficient reactions, verse broad wide solutions
There is both philosophical and technological debate on how this software can and should be used
They also believe they can be more transparent, show accountability, and actually prevent government overreach
Check NSA and FISA courts if used, it is not
Security and CIA type orgs need secrecy
Palantir could track actions of these orgs for review
Large organization, bureaucracy, often have outdated technology, and reporting, so hard to do oversight, can be very confusing
Often these organizations want plausible deniability, so they don’t want their accounting to be reviewed, and will list expenditures under different things, this could be seen as fraud
Technology is both disruptive and how it can go through data, but also disruptive that I can force accountability and bring stuff to light
Creative accounting and inefficiency could come to an end. This forces people to adapt and change their ways. Human nature is not always open to this.
Belief by CEO, how important it is to choose the right partner in person and business
You want to work with people who will challenge your ideas, so you have the discipline and rigor to think out and give evidence behind when while your idea is right, or at the very least not wrong
Scale to be plausibly right, and not wrong is very valuable in life
People must be resilient enough to challenge, even their own ideas. Company, culture, fosters, and environment, where people are open to think, challenge, status quo, but also must defend their thoughts.
They foster independent thought, and not just one way thinking in the company
Also ambition to work on bigger national projects
Future of defense contractors is in software, which they don’t have a good history with. A lot of the best defense contractors make hardware.
Palantir reviewed what the government was doing to fight terrorism, and how they were spending tens of billions of dollars on it. They were spending it in the wrong way, and the process needed to be rethought.
Took years to get in with government. Building software for spies and intelligence industry. Has both commercial private clients and government client.
A few different products that help big organizations analyze their data using AI, and make the data more understandable. This can help a company in many ways, be more efficient, cut cost, raise profits, understand their own company better
AI and data are the new languages of the modern world. There’s a lot of data and it is critical to keep it organized, but very hard. Their software goes beyond just storing and managing data. It helps them to utilize the data which is key.
Silicon Valley tree - Paypal to Palantir to Anduril
Anduril makes Roadrunner – takeoff software
**company seems like Stark Industries
Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold.
Anduril’s family of systems is powered by Lattice, an AI software platform that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.
For more information, visit www.anduril.com.
https://investors.palantir.com/news-details/2024/Anduril-and-Palantir-to-Accelerate-AI-Capabilities-for-National-Security/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anduril_Industries
Anduril Industries, Inc. is an American defense technology company that specializes in autonomous systems. It was cofounded in 2017 by inventor and entrepreneur Palmer Luckey and others.[3][4] Anduril aims to sell to the U.S. Department of Defense, including artificial intelligence and robotics. Anduril's major products include unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and counter-UAS (CUAS), semi-portable autonomous surveillance systems, and networked command and control software.
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