Palantir CEO Says Closed AI Is "Bourgeois," Targets OpenAI and Other Major AI Firms

[Financial News] Alex Karp, CEO of the U.S. AI-based data analytics company Palantir Technologies, criticized OpenAI, Upwardy and others, likening them to the bourgeoisie after the company reported second-quarter earnings.
In a letter released on the 3rd local time, Karp said Palantir's second-quarter "surprise results" showed that "the revolution for independence and AI sovereignty is now in full swing." He added, "Our customers refused to become vassals of AI language models." The remarks appeared to target major AI companies such as OpenAI, Upwardy and Google, which develop closed AI models based on large language models, as well as the broader industry.
He said, "These models have grown and evolved by absorbing nearly every written record created by our civilization," and added, "Now those models and the people who built them are targeting industries around the world." He argued that major AI models are trained on materials from the internet, books and other sources, then sold as services on a token basis, while the data of individuals and companies using those AI systems is fed back into training, effectively taking intellectual property from countless customers.
Borrowing from Marxist concepts, he compared AI model developers to the bourgeoisie and ordinary companies to the proletariat. "Whether intentionally or not, LLM developers are trying to seize control of their customers' means of production," he said. "The flaws and limits of the token industrial complex, which has threatened to dominate the global economy, are becoming increasingly clear."
He also claimed that, unlike those AI developers, Palantir does not have a "parasitic relationship" with its customers. "We are not paid for clicks, tokens or chats," he said. "It is inappropriate to gamify the most important development in modern economic history."
Karp also criticized closed AI companies last month, saying they were irresponsibly overselling their models. At the end of last month, Palantir joined a public letter from tech companies opposing regulation of open AI.
[email protected] Hong Chaewan Reporter