Data analytics company Palantir has faced criticism and even protests over its work with the military, police, and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, but co-founder and CEO Alex Karp isn’t interested in “the apology show.”
In a lengthy New York Times profile, Karp told writer Maureen Dowd that the company has “a consistently pro-Western view” and that its critics “believe we should appease Iran, Russia and China.”
“I’m not going to apologize for defending the U.S. government on the border, defending the Special Ops, bringing the people home,” he said. “I’m not apologizing for giving our product to Ukraine or Israel or lots of other places.”
Karp doesn’t give many interviews, so it’s interesting to see him speak so extensively about everything from his political views (which he describes as “progressive but not woke”) to his friendship with Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel and his dating preferences.
But there’s only so much he’s willing to say about Palantir’s work. When asked whether the company played a role in locating Osama bin Laden, Karp demurred, explaining, “If you have a reputation for talking about what the pope says when you meet him, you’ll never meet the pope again.”