The Palantir Yale Jeremiad (Not Quite a Polemic But Not a Colloquy)
May 8, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
I think this is a click bait title for those who have some exposure to the Jesuits. For others, the reaction will be, “Jeremiad? Is that an NBA superstar?” I thought the use of the word “jeremiad” was clever, but others may find the reference puzzling. Sigh.
Thanks, Venice.ai. You only protested that my image was violating your guardrails a couple of times. Well, good enough.
After reading the New York Magazine essay, “Palantir Comes to Campus: At a Quiet Conference at Yale, the Company and Its Allies Sketched a Vision for AI, State Power, and How to Mix the Two.” From my point of view, the magazine’s write up did not provide enough cross references, glosses, annotations, and endnotes to the relevant antichrist lectures of Peter Thiel, Dr. Alex Karp’s book The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, the Lord of the Rings, and the philosophical writings of René Girard, among others. (Love me some Girard.)
The essay is a snapshot of a chit chat organized by the Palantir Foundation, a commercially-funded Ivory Tower for big AI tech or BAIT ideas. The topic for the event was ““National Power and Purpose in the Age of AI.” Full disclosure: I converted the title of the event to Napp-ai. You can make of this shorthand what you will. I did not spell the acronym “nappy” which shows some measure of judgment I suppose.
The main “points” struck me from the New York Magazine piece were:
- Humans cannot do government. AI is the answer. It is definitely good to be the human controlling the AI I assume.
- The government should become software. Obviously the old and weird deliberative approach is not working. It is good to be in a senior government position responsible for software or be working for the big software outfit supporting the new government.
- The Great Chain of Being is back. AI mavens and AI are at the top. Ergo, a digital god or Mt. Olympus of zeros and ones.
- The wimp approach to treating humans is over. The approach is expensive and doesn’t work. AI software works… mostly.
The cited New York Magazine article quotes one luminary as pointing out:
Princeton Classics graduates… couldn’t even read Latin.
Keep in mind the conference was held at Yale, where I presume classics grads can indeed read Latin. As Plautus observed:
Si decem habeas linguas, mutum esse addecet.
Translation: I you had 10 tongues, you ought to hold them all.
The meta-view of the conference seems to be encapsulated in this statement from the New York Magazine essay:
In their book, The Technological Republic, they contend that Silicon Valley lost its way after the Cold War as the technology sector retreated from the public interest and into “luxury beliefs” — opposition to using software to help law enforcement among them. The rot, in their telling, began in higher ed: Stanford dropped its History of Western Civilization requirement in 1968, and the generation that built the internet grew up constructing its identity “in opposition to the state.” It became squeamish about helping governments do government things, like deporting people. Karp [founder of Palantir and philosopher] and Zamiska [Palantir’s PR person] take particular offense at Google’s former motto, “Don’t be evil.” That old maxim reflects, they write, a mind-set that prizes moral clarity over “the more difficult and often messy task of navigating the world in all of its imperfection.” Palantir would not make the same mistake.
Let’s step back. The Jeremiad at Yale is part of Palantir’s and its adherents efforts to implement BAIT’s vision for the way the US and probably most of the world to operate. Forget government and the people. Just compress the idea into government and AI plus some fellow travelers to the new world order.
Let me offer several observations:
- The New York Magazine essay does not ruffle too many Palantirian plumes. Unfortunately the result is a collection of generalizations about how Palantir and Mr. Thiel’s ideas will be implemented. (Yep, these folks think that their AI way in the new Information Highway.,)
- The objective of the Karpy dieum is power and control. With those two fundamental elements, money will accrue to the superior beings; for example those who recognize the genius of Mr. Girard and his ilk.
- The academic trappings of this Lord of the Rings reality show are intended to bestow the halo of big thinking on the ideas of Dr. Karp. I like to think of the approach as Thielism, but, like it or not, Dr. Karp is the mouthpiece for the movement in my opinion.
Net net: As a dinobaby, I marvel at this mash up of search and retrieval technology, power, money, surveillance, and a new world order assembled from bits and pieces of some quite interesting ideas. Personally I am delighted to be able to observe first hand how BAIT catches carp and other fish.
Stephen E Arnold, May 8, 2026
Palantir Offers Its Combo First Principles and New World Checklist
April 21, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
In my trusty feedreader this morning (April 19, 2026) I spotted a link to a tweet posted to X.com (that’s the Twitter thing). I found the post fascinating for two reasons. First, it is definitely fodder for a first year philosophy course discussion in a four year college. Second, it provides a checklist for matching one’s “status” to the new world that Palantir Technologies envisions for — you know — like everyone in the world.
A wizard explains to those not in the superior being class the items each must embrace to be considered as a candidate to move from serfdom to AI assistant. Thanks, Venice.ai. That is a cheery color palette.
I would like to work through each of the statements and provide my view of what is bubbling beneath the surface of this oracular bullet point list. Darn it. I have other work to do. I have to get my handouts in order for my two 2026 National Cyber Crime Conference presentations, and I have to post new write ups for this blog crafted by my team. I will, therefore, take the type of shortcut used by many Silicon Valley type thinkers and pick out three, offer observations, and then wrap with a net net. By the way, Palantir settled with i2 Ltd. over a certain shortcut to gain access to the details of the ANB file format, but I won’t go into details. I mean who cares how a company achieves its goals as outlined in the twitter emission.
Let me set this up. The twitter emission is about 1,030 words, according to the word count function in my UltraEdit application. That’s a whole lotta tweeting going on. The emission is a marketing piece for a new book titled “The Technological Republic.” The emission also is a “hey, stop asking what makes us do the Lord of the Rings kabuki.” I know this because the big tweet includes the statement “Because we get asked a lot.” Okay. A lot. Ideal for metrics.
There are 22 items in the list of precepts. Each precept includes a précis. The purpose of the emission is, therefore, to provide a ready reference to the Palantir way including seeing stones, magic, and superior creatures. It also will, in theory, cause books to fly from shelves or overload digital booksellers’ servers from the download demand. I hope this works.
Okay, here are the three precepts I have the time, energy, and patience to address.
This is precept 8, and I quote:
Public servants need not be our priests.
Like the other precepts, there is an accompany explanation for the unenlightened and uninitiated into the ways of Palantirism; to wit:
Any business that compensated its employees in the way that the federal government compensates public servants would struggle to survive.
I worked with a fellow who was into aikido and Zen. He routinely emitted what I thought were shallow thoughts wrapped in Philosophy 203 craziness. He called these explanations koans. He wanted to say something that sounded deep, good, and counter logical. I replied to one of his outputs which was very similar to the “if you reward this way like that outfit rewards, you would die like a dog in the desert” in precept 8. I told him, “If you don’t know this silliness off, I will let you out of the car and you can hitchhike on the next yak that comes down Rockville Pike.” He shut up.
Okay, let’s take a look at precept 12, and I quote:
The atomic age is ending.
Here is the explanation:
One age of deterrence, the atomic age, is ending, and a new era of deterrence built on A.I. is set to begin.
I do recall that the US and Russia each have a hefty number of atomic weapons. China has some. North Korea may have some. There are rumors that Israel, Pakistan, and probably a few other countries have these devices. Furthermore, there are commercial and government operated nuclear power plants. There are fuel pools. There are plans for modular nuclear reactors. Right now there is AI based on Google’s transformer approach. When it comes to creating some issues, I think a pragmatic person is going to ask, “Hey, what if some of that radioactive material is used for nefarious purposes. You know. Just dump some in a drinking water supply to let a drone scatter some “dust” over a crowded city street. I know the AI thing is a “if we build it they will come.” That may be true, but it seems that there are some people engaged in push back; for example, the person who had harmful intent toward the big dog at OpenAI. Can hallucinating AI keep these honey badgers in their cage?
And the final precept. I picked precept 17, and I quote:
Silicon Valley must play a role in addressing violent crime.
Before presenting the explanation, I like the “must.” Okay, mom or Zeus or whoever the twitter master is channeling. Here’s the explanation of this mandate:
Many politicians across the United States have essentially shrugged when it comes to violent crime, abandoning any serious efforts to address the problem or take on any risk with their constituencies or donors in coming up with solutions and experiments in what should be a desperate bid to save lives.
I think my interpretation of this is that the tech bros can make society a happy place. Is it possible that Silicon Valley thinking, products, and unregulated behavior have contributed to the current social vibe in the United States? Can technology fix the problems technology has created. If the answer is “yes,” then I think that one must examine the specific cases cited to support the argument. Saying “we know better” or “we can do it” does not convince me.
Several observations:
- This is the rationale for allowing wizards to run the show, not just the US, the entire world. These folks believe they are the empowered.
- The twitter emission is the first interesting broad propaganda messaging. Much, much more propaganda and jingoism will follow. This is not “disinformation.” This is what I call “reformation,” and it is part of the alternative facts craziness that seems to be winning in professional and consumer discourse.
- The list of precepts is a yardstick against which Palantir, an AI, or a select group can measure an individual, an institution, or an educational institution. Getting an F means bad news.
Net net: This is applied psychological manipulation. It is a manifesto. This is what happens when technology is allowed to operate without meaningful oversight, internal ethical control mechanisms, or though processes not based on fantasy fiction. The Lord of the Rings is a novel. What’s unique is applying this to the Silicon Valley way. When I worked in Sillycon Valley, the “way” was traffic jams, arrogance, and a sense of entitlement. Have fun in Philosophy 101 with a group discussing this tweeter thing.
Stephen E Arnold, April 21, 2026
Palantir Technologies: Nicked by Sharp Marketing and Metaphors
March 24, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
I learned about an article by reading a March 13, 2026 report titled “It Beggars Belief: MoD Sources Warn Palantir’s Role at Heart of Government Is Threat to UK’s Security.” The write up says:
Palantir, the US AI surveillance and security firm with hundreds of millions of pounds in UK government contracts, poses “a national security threat to the UK”, according to two anonymous high-level sources working with the Ministry of Defence.
My problem is that the sources are anonymous. The UK has struggled with certain types of software. One example comes to mind: The British Post Office. Another is the National Health Services’ arm wrestling with software. Plus, I am not familiar with the online publication The Nerve.
Thanks, Venice.ai. Good enough.
One of the anonymous sources in The Nerve’s write up allegedly said:
“Allowing a single entity, foreign or domestic, to have such far-reaching, pervasive access is inherently dangerous. How our national cybersecurity center has allowed this beggars belief.”
Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, allegedly told The Nerve:
“If the US has detailed insights across everything that the MoD does, then in the event of us being recalcitrant about helping the US bomb some country, they can remind us – subtly or unsubtly – what they might do in retaliation. “The Ministry of Defence or the prime minister must have some inkling of the risks, but now we find ourselves hitched to an erratic, dangerous, megalomaniac power in denial of its own limits. If Palantir knows everything, it just gives them huge extra leverage.”
What’s interesting is that a personage using the alias sschueller provided a pointer to a February x, 2026, article in the Swiss online publication Republik. Its article “How Tenaciously Palantir Courted Switzerland” provided some additional color about Palantir Technologies.
Here’s are some quotes from the Republik write up. Are they accurate? I have no idea. I find them interesting, however.
“Palantir is here to disrupt. (…) and, when it’s necessary, to scare our enemies and occasionally kill them.”
and
“The rise of the West has not been made possible by the superiority of its ideas, values, or religion, but rather by its superiority in the use of organized violence.”
and
CTO Shyam Sankar said that Palantir products help “optimize the kill chain.”
I find Palantir somewhat amusing. The company named itself after a seeing stone, a fictional creation in the fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings by J..R.R. Tolkien. The palentiri are not likely to save whales and snail darters.
Several observations seem to be warranted:
- Palantir’s PR is either doing its job or it is failing in its effort to present the firm in a positive manner
- Specialized software companies may find their marketing methods turn off certain commercial and government customers
- The company seems to engender fear, not just concern. (Is that a reason why most specialized software companies walk softly and market without becoming poster kids like NSO Group for questionable practices.)
Net net: My view is that some US technology companies are feeding negative perceptions about American business, technologies, and trustworthiness. But I am a dinobaby in rural Kentucky. What do I know about American firms selling to non-US entities? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Why worry?
Stephen E Arnold, March 24, 2026
Palantir Peregrinations: Next Up, the Capital of Caribe
February 27, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
I read The Nine Nations of North America in 1981. My recollection is that Miami (which I believe Joel Garreau dubbed Caribe) was in a segment of the US called Dixie. Palantir Technologies, if the information in “Palantir Shifts HQ to Miami From Denver After Protests” is correct is on the move again. [Note: If the url 404s, don’t blame me. Buzz those responsive folks at Yahoo.] In Garreau’s analysis of what America had become in 1980, the company started out in Ectopia where Silicon Valley nestled. Then Palantir moved its headquarters to what Garreau called “The Empty Quarter” and Denver, Colorado. Now Palantir is off to Dixie and the capital of Caribe (Mr. Garreau’s name for that which is south of the US border.)
Thanks, Venice.ai. Good enough.
The write up which I spotted in Yahoo’s finance section says:
Palantir Technologies Inc. said it’s moved its headquarters to Miami from Denver at a time when tech firms are headed to South Florida as local officials promote the region as an alternative to California’s Silicon Valley. The announcement was made Tuesday in a brief statement on the social media platform X, with no reason provided for the move.
Palantir prides itself for a “system” that can ingest data and output high probability answers. Properly configured, one could ask Palantir’s AI and analytic system, “Identify the optimal city for our headquarters.” The answer was originally Silicon Valley. That was in the firm’s formative era round about 2003 when Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen, and Nathan Gettings set up “The Shire.” (Yep, that’s a Lord of the Rings reference.)
Palantir then probably consulted its “seeing stone” and learned that the firm should shift its headquarters to Denver, Colorado. That move took place in early 2020.
Now, five years later, the Palantir leadership asked its system for optimal headquarters’ locations and learned that it was Dixie, specifically Miami, the capital of Caribe.
Why is this important? For me, it’s a sign that Dixie is a thriving center of high technology. That’s why I live in rural Kentucky. You now know that I am not alone in the intellectual excitement and fervor of Dixie. You thought I was here because when I relocated from DC to work at the Courier Journal & Louisville Times Co. it was to help make a money pit into a gold mine. Well, you are wrong. I liked the knowledge value of living in a progressive state where basketball is less important than analytic geometry. I bet you didn’t know that!
The write up says:
Palantir, a data analytics company with extensive defense contracts, is Colorado’s largest public company. Its decision followed multiple protests since it moved to Denver in 2020 from Palo Alto, due to cultural and ideological differences, according to the Denver Post. Protests have targeted the company’s support of the Israeli military and more recently its work with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement by using artificial intelligence to identify targets for deportation. State and local officials said they were not told of the decision ahead of time, including Colorado Governor Jared Polis.
Interesting. I wonder why the Palantir seeing stone system did not notice the probability that the company would engender local protests. Perhaps Palantir discounted the culture of Boulder, giving excess “weight” to the value of the community in the just folks’ town of Aspen, Colorado?
Here’s a question that crossed my mind, “What if the Palantir system output erroneous information?” Moving a company’s headquarters, even if it is an outfit set up on the Airbnb principles of Telegram, is a hassle.
What are the implications if the answer to the question “What if the Palantir system output erroneous information? is, “Yep, it sure did”? I don’t want to think about the inconceivable answer. Forget Hershey’s experience with Palantir. Think about health care in the UK.
Maybe the move was not Palantir’s leadership idea. The write up points out:
Peter Thiel, Palantir’s chairman, opened an office for his private investment firm in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood at the end of 2025, expanding the billionaire’s presence in Florida. The tech mogul has owned a mansion in Miami Beach since 2020, and his venture capital firm Founders Fund has had an office nearby since 2021. He also moved his voter registration to Florida in March 2024, according to state records.
Okay, protests and probabilistic outputs aside, will the company offer immersion classes in Spanish? The language might be useful if the protests create multi-lingual signage.
The big question, “Why are folks complaining about Palantir?”
Stephen E Arnold, February 27, 2026
Palantir: Morphing into an SAP-Type Outfit: Intelware Is a Minor Component
February 23, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
Palantir Technologies has been around a couple of decades. I wrote about the firm’s system in my book “CyberOSINT: Next Generation Information Access.” Like the other intelware vendors’ systems, Palantir used open source, home brew code, an interface twist (see illustration from one of the older versions), and moxie. Palantir used “forward deployed engineers” who would go to a prospect’s office, set up a system, and show the staff how to use the system. At the time, most of the Palantir bells and whistles were already in systems developed originally by i2 Ltd. I was a consultant to i2 Ltd, and my legal eagles told me long ago I should make that point.
A senior forward deployed engineer explains that the Palantir system is indeed a “seeing stone.” It can provide its licensees with unparalleled insight. Those in such presentations often believe that Palantir has the same magic that infuses “The Lord of the Rings.” Thanks, Qwen. Close enough.
In terms of the longevity of intelware companies, Palantir has kept on trucking. Many of the companies I profiled in CyberOSINT in 2015 have been acquired, merged, or folded up their tent and focused on selling ad agencies. The core functions of these systems included at that time:
- User point-and-click interfaces
- Some control over data added to a system by the user
- Relationship diagrams
- Easier cross tabulations
- Report generation tools.
In the intervening decade, the current crop of intelware systems have bolted on smart software. These functions are useful because the volume of data for an investigation or an analysis for intelligence purposes involves a lot of data.
What’s going on with Palantir Technologies now? The main developments are:
- Big visibility. Most people cannot name an intelware company, but quite a few know about Palantir or have some name recognition. Palantir has won the PR battle. Too bad Light House and Sixgill.
- Big contracts. Palantir is not in the $5,000 a month range. The size of the publicized contracts are big.
- Big capabilities. Palantir makes clear in its marketing that it has the biggest, best intelware system anywhere. (I am not sure I agree with that, but that’s not germane to this post.)
Why am I writing about Palantir on February 20, 2026? Answer: I read “DHS Awards Palantir up to $1B to Deploy AI and Data Analytics Platforms.” The number is big or seems big. There is that “up to” caveat. The article states:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded Palantir Technologies Inc. a five-year blanket purchase to expand the department’s use of artificial intelligence and large-scale data analytics platforms across its agencies.
From my point of view, the most important factoid in the news story is this one:
The agreement, which is valued at up to $1 billion, allows multiple DHS agencies to acquire Palantir platforms without initiating separate competitive contracts for each deployment. The blanket purchasing agreement deal establishes pre-approved pricing and terms, with funding distributed through individual task orders over the five-year period rather than as a single upfront award.
As I interpret the passage, it seems that other intelware vendors may have a more difficult time selling or licensing their systems to DHS. Some of those systems are better than Palantir’s system, but that’s normal in the world of intelware. No one system does everything. Larger systems exhibit innovation friction. The bigger the outfit, the more difficult it becomes to integrate in a slick way the latest and greatest twist for law enforcement and intelligence professionals conducting investigations. That’s why larger intelware outfits acquire small, more fleet of foot start ups.
This is a screenshot of the right click wheel selector. The idea is that this right click method is more functional for an investigator. I believe the interface has been updated since I snagged this in 2006 or 2007 in a demo at a trade show. I assume the entire image is copyright protected, trademarked, and super proprietary. Anyway, it is definitely a Palantir “innovation.”
Several observations:
- The contract suggests that standardization makes it easier to train authorized users of a system like Palantir’s
- Personnel can move more easily from one unit of DHS to another without having to deal with different intelware products. (Some will find their way into specialized units anyway.)
- DHS has, in theory, one throat to choke if the system or the customized instances of Palantir’s software does not meet the specification for that implementation.
I won’t mention names, but there was a similar “let’s just pick one and go” approach a number of years ago. The company promised a range of specific capabilities, asserted flexibility, and described easier customization than other approaches. What happened? In this particular intelware instance, the multi year agree was on the rocks within nine months. The time required to train and develop the custom applications for the use cases converted intelware into a more inefficient deployment than SAP or similar “workflow” system. The costs of implementation soared as engineering change orders and supplemental specifications were developed and pushed forward. In a short time, money ran out and these fixes had to be integrated into the next fiscal year’s budget.
I did not work on this particular project. I was engaged in an equally large and even more visible project related to government-wide search and retrieval of digital information. I didn’t think about one agency. We were struggling with the entire airport van of agencies, departments, and related entities.
Nevertheless, we learned about the issues that a Swiss army knife poses when one or more of the tools doesn’t open or breaks upon use. I hope that the Palantir solution does not create a similar set of issues for DHS. I want to be optimistic. I know that descriptions like this are very appealing to government executives, and I quote from the news story:
DHS is expected to use Palantir’s platforms to support investigative case management, threat identification, logistics coordination and operational planning. The platforms apply machine learning models and rules-based analytics to information from enforcement databases, biometric systems, financial records, travel data and other sources to generate risk assessments, link analyses and operational dashboards.
Palantir’s system, if this paragraph is accurate, is no longer intelware. It is smart software doing what SAP-type systems do. Believe me, intelware is a tough enough niche. Expecting Palantir to be enterprise integration and automation software looks like an even more complex undertaking.
Can Palantir deliver? Sure, anything can be done with money, time, and appropriate knowledge resources (people, folks). The problem is that in DHS and other enforcement-type entities time is a problem. Changing priorities is a constant. Pressure is high and unrelenting. Small intelware vendors are, as I said, speedy. Big outfits aren’t.
Just a thought. (Oh, the CyberOSINT book is still available for free for law enforcement and intelligence professionals. Just write us at kentmaxwell at proton dot me.)
Stephen E Arnold, February 23, 2026
Palantir Technologies: What Is with Kim Dotcom?
February 16, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
I walk the dog and I check out some newsfeeds. The Pinboard.in service provided a snip that said “Palantir was allegedly hacked.” The linked showed me a segment of a Kim Dotcom tweet. When I returned to my office with a happy dog, I clicked the linked again. Nope. Not valid. I poked around on X.com and my Russian language feed. X.com said, “Something has gone wrong.” Okay, no surprise.
I have zero clue if the story is true. If it is, it strikes me that some government cyber professionals will verify the validity or the inaccuracy of Kim Dotcom’s post. Here is the original, which I tracked down using some of my old-fashioned, dinobaby methods:
The original tweet asserts as actual factual:
Peter Thiel and Alex Karp commit mass surveillance of world leaders and titans of industry on a massive scale.
In my experience, I am not sure this lines up 100 percent with what Palantir actually does do. But Kim Dotcom doesn’t call me to learn about the right click wheel, the tie up with Microsoft, or the firm’s Wall Street Journal ads which said the company was an artificial intelligence outfit. Firms in the intelware business have a bit of a dual personality: There is the software and what it can do right now with a particular data set. Then there is the software presented in a demo in a trade show booth. Sometimes the two worlds are slightly different.
Mr. Dotcom asserts as the shining truth these factoids:
Palantir is creating nuclear and bio weapon capabilities for Ukraine and is working closely with the CIA to defeat Russia. They [sic] believe they [sic] are one year away. They [sic] plan to achieve this by keeping Russia busy with meaningless peace negotiations.
There you go. A curious mind might ask, “Who is keeping whom busy?”
I found this statement intriguing:
Palantir is an arm of the CIA and all data from international is copied into a CIA spy cloud.
I ran a few queries on the Web search systems’ “news” sites. I checked one of my favorite Russian sources PCnews.ru and the Yandex.com system. I did not poke around on Telegram. I don’t have my “Telegram only” device with me, but I will check this evening when I leave my cave like office in rural Kentucky.
One Russian link resolved, and I was able to read courtesy of a free online translation system this article: “Dotcom Reported Hacking of the Software Developer for the CIA Palantir. ” That write up said:
“According to reports, Palantir has been subjected to a hacker attack. Artificial intelligence was used to gain access with superuser rights,” he wrote on his page on the social network X (ex. Twitter).
Palantir is an AI company, the WSJ ad told me this. How could one AI fool another AI? I assume exactly the same way malware centric Chrome extensions make life interesting for users of Google Chrome, a product of the Mandiant and Deepseek technologies. Stuff happens.
Several observations are warranted in my opinion:
- Either Kim Dotcom has been hacked and an entity is using him as a convenient vector for fakery or Kim Dotcom is telling the truth and adding some fighter jet illumination to the back of his T shirt
- The link problem raises some interesting thoughts as well. How can Pinboard.in users react so quickly to a post and then take down that post. Pinboard.in is a stable service, but it is definitely not spoof proof. I routinely report porn spammers, SEO wonks, and the lohita outfit to Pinboard. It does take action sometimes, but not at what I would call hopping bunny rabbit speed. The speed of disappearance is fascinating.
- The assertions are quite remarkable. They are presented without evidence. I do know that Palantir when it first first birthed in that fertile Silicon Valley spirit sold a project to a three letter agency. I do not know if Palantir enjoys insider status with the freedom to pump global data into a government system. Maybe, but perhaps this seems inflammatory, not informative.
Net net: This is an interesting use of social media. One tweet got me moving. If something interesting comes out of this demonstration of social media’s “value,” we will post it. For now. I just have questions. Oh, we love the right click wheel thing.
Stephen E Arnold, February 16, 2026
Palantir Channels Moses, Blue Chip Consulting Baloney, and PR
December 2, 2025
Another dinobaby original. If there is what passes for art, you bet your bippy, that I used smart software. I am a grandpa but not a Grandma Moses.
Palantir Technologies is a company in search of an identity. You may know the company latched on to the Lord of the Rings as a touchstone. The Palantir team adopted the “seeing stone.” The idea was that its technology could do magical things. There are several hundred companies with comparable technology. Datawalk has suggested that its system is the equivalent of Palantir’s. Is this true? I don’t know, but when one company is used by another company to make sales, it suggests that Palantir has done something of note.
I am thinking about Palantir because I did a small job for i2 Ltd. when Mike Hunter still was engaged with the firm. Shortly after this interesting work, I learned that Palantir was engaged in litigation with i2 Ltd. The allegations included Palantir’s setting up a straw man company to license the i2 Ltd.’s Analyst Notebook software development kit. i2 was the ur-intelware. Many of the companies marketing link analysis, analytics focused on making sense of call logs, and other arcana of little interest to most people are relatives of i2. Some acknowledge this bloodline. Others, particularly young intelware company employees working trade shows, just look confused if I mention i2 Ltd. Time is like sandpaper. Facts get smoothed, rounded, or worn to invisibility.
We have an illustration output by MidJourney. It shows a person dressed in a wardrobe that is out of step with traditional business attired. The machine-generated figure is trying to convince potential customers that the peculiarly garbed speaker can be trusted. The sign would have been viewed as good marketing centuries ago. Today it is just peculiar, possibly desperate on some level.
I read “Palantir Uses the ‘5 Whys’ Approach to Problem Solving — Here’s How It Works.” What struck me about the article is that Palantir’s CEO Alex Karp is recycling business school truisms as the insights that have powered the company to record government contracts. Toyota was one of the first company’s to focus on asking “why questions.” That firm tried to approach selling automobiles in a way different from the American auto giants. US firms were the world leaders when Toyota was cranking out cheap vehicles. The company pushed songs, communal exercise, and ideas different from the chrome trim crowd in Detroit; for example, humility, something called genchi genbutsu or go and see first hand, employee responsibility regardless of paygrade, continuous improvement (usually not adding chrome trim), and thinking beyond quarterly results. To an America, Mr. Toyoda’s ideas were nutso.
The write up reports:
Karp is a firm believer in the Five Whys, a simple system that aims to uncover the root cause of an issue that may not be immediately apparent. The process is straightforward. When an issue arises, someone asks, “Why?” Whatever the answer may be, they ask “why?” again and again until they have done so five times. “We have found is that those who are willing to chase the causal thread, and really follow it where it leads, can often unravel the knots that hold organizations back” …
The article adds this bit of color:
Palantir’s culture is almost as iconoclastic as its leader.
We have the Lord of the Rings, we have a Japanese auto company’s business method, and we have the CEO as an iconoclast.
Let’s think about this type of PR. Obviously Palantir and its formal and informal “leadership” want to be more than an outfit known for ending up in court as a result of a less-than-intelligent end run about an outfit whose primary market was law enforcement and intelligence professionals. Palantir is in the money or at least money from government contract, and it rarely mentions its long march to today’s apparent success. The firm was founded in May 2003. After a couple of years, Palantir landed its first customer: The US Central Intelligence Agency.
The company ingested about $3 billion in venture funding and reported its first profitable quarter in 2022. That’s 19 years, one interesting legal dust up, and numerous attempts to establish long-term relationships with its “customers.” Palantir did some work for do-good outfits. It tried its hand at commercial projects. But the firm remained anchored to government agencies in the US and the UK.
But something was lacking. The article is part of a content marketing campaign to make the firm’s CEO a luminary among technology leaders. Thus, we have the myth building block like the five why’s. These are not exactly intellectual home runs. The method is not proprietary. The method breaks down in many engagements. People don’t know why something happened. Consultants or forward deployed engineers scurry around trying to figure out what’s going. At some blue chip consulting firms, trotting out Toyota’s precepts as a way to deal with social media cyber security threats might result in the client saying, “No, thanks. We need a less superficial approach.”
I am not going to get a T shirt that says, “The knots that hold organizations back.” I favor
From my point of view, there are a couple of differences between the Toyota and it why era and Palantir today; for instance, Toyota was into measured, mostly disciplined process improvement. Palantir is more like the “move fast, break things” Silicon Valley outfit. Toyota was reasonably transparent about its processes. I did see the lights out factory near the Tokyo airport which was off limits to Kentucky people like. Palantir is in my mind associated with faux secrecy, legal paperwork, and those i2-related sealed documents.
Net net: Palantir’s myth making PR campaign is underway. I have no doubt it will work for many people. Good for them.
Stephen E Arnold, December x, 2025
Govini? Another Palantir Technologies?
November 7, 2025
Good news. Another Palantir. Just what we need. CNBC reports, “Govini, a Defense Tech Startup Taking on Palantir, Hits $100 Million in Annual Recurring Revenue.” Writer Samantha Subin tells us:
“Govini, a defense tech software startup taking on the likes of Palantir, has blown past $100 million in annual recurring revenue, the company announced Friday. ‘We’re growing faster than 100% in a three-year CAGR, and I expect that next year we’ll continue to do the same,’ CEO Tara Murphy Dougherty told CNBC’s Morgan Brennan in an interview. With how ‘big this market is, we can keep growing for a long, long time, and that’s really exciting.’ CAGR stands for compound annual growth rate, a measurement of the rate of return. The Arlington, Virginia-based company also announced a $150 million growth investment from Bain Capital. It plans to use the money to expand its team and product offering to satisfy growing security demands.”
A former business-development leader at Palantir, Dougherty says her current firm is aiming for a “vertical slice” of the defense tech field. We learn:
“The 14-year-old Govini has already secured a string of big wins in recent years, including an over $900-million U.S. government contract and deals with the Department of War. Govini is known for its flagship AI software Ark, which it says can help modernize the military’s defense tech supply chain by better managing product lifecycles as military needs grow more sophisticated.”
The CEO asserts China’s dominance in rare earths and processed minerals and its faster shipbuilding capacity are reasons to worry. Sounds familiar. However, she believes an efficient and effective procurement system like Ark can provide an advantage for the US. Perhaps. But does it come with sides of secrecy, surveillance, and influence a la Palantir? Stay tuned.
Cynthia Murrell, November 7, 2025
Palantir Rattles the Windows in the Nuclear Industry
June 30, 2025
![Dino 5 18 25_thumb[3]_thumb_thumb](https://www.arnoldit.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Dino-5-18-25_thumb3_thumb_thumb-1.gif "Dino 5 18 25_thumb[3]_thumb_thumb")
This dinobaby asked ChatGPT about Palantir. Interesting output.
“Palantir Partners to Develop AI Software for Nuclear Construction” caught me by surprise. I did not think the company founded in 2003 was an artificial intelligence company with expertise in the nuclear field. The cited article reports:
Palantir Technologies on Thursday [June 26, 2025] said it was teaming up with a nuclear deployment company to develop an artificial intelligence-driven software system built for the construction of nuclear reactors.
I have paid much attention to Palantir, but I did own a small amount of Palantir stock but I dumped it.
Screenshot of the ChatGPT output on June 27, 2025, at 855 am US Eastern
Today I wanted to refresh my memory about the company. I navigated to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and plugged in key words and this is what the Sam Altman system generated for me. Note: It is unlikely that the ChatGPT system can output the same report because probability doesn’t work the way users of the system think it does.
Remember: The quoted passage is copied directly from the ChatGPT response. ChatGPT told me:
Palantir Technologies has a pattern of circumventing formal processes, pushing ethical boundaries, and leveraging aggressive public-private tactics to secure influence—particularly within U.S. defense and intelligence communities.
Here is a structured explanation of why such behaviors have been downplayed or ignored:
1. Operational Utility Overrides Bureaucratic Violations
- In Afghanistan and Iraq, Palantir’s software reportedly delivered immediate tactical value in identifying IED networks and improving situational awareness.
- By deploying software and engineers directly to the field without formal contracts, Palantir created facts on the ground—a working product that soldiers wanted, and field commanders endorsed.
- Pentagon leadership faced a dilemma: challenge Palantir for its violations or continue using a system that operators said worked better than the legacy alternatives (e.g., DCGS-A).
- This “bottom-up demand” shielded Palantir from early procurement blowback.
2. Information Warfare and Lobbying
- Palantir conducted a calculated media and lobbying campaign targeting the Distributed Common Ground System–Army (DCGS-A, also referred to as D-CIGS).
- By discrediting IBM and other legacy defense contractors, Palantir positioned itself as the modern, Silicon Valley alternative.
- This messaging resonated with Congress, think tanks, and parts of the press, framing Palantir as a disruptor, not a rule-breaker.
- Lobbying disclosures show Palantir spent millions courting lawmakers and decision-makers.
3. Legal Maneuvering and Settlements
- In both the i2 lawsuit and the 2016 bid protest against the Army over DCGS-A, Palantir used the courts to shape procurement rules in its favor.
- The Court of Federal Claims sided with Palantir in 2016, affirming that the Army violated federal acquisition regulations by excluding commercial solutions from its process ([Palantir USG v. United States, 129 Fed. Cl. 218 (2016)]). This set a precedent that indirectly legitimized Palantir’s aggressive tactics.
4. Shift in Public Attention and National Security Prioritization
- Post-2016, the focus of public scrutiny shifted toward big tech’s relationship with consumer data, not defense contractors.
- Palantir successfully repositioned itself as a key player in pandemic response, immigration enforcement, and border security—domains where national interest arguments silence criticism.
- The company also leaned into its identity as a pro-Western, anti-authoritarian force, which further insulated it from deeper ethical scrutiny.
5. Opacity and Media Fatigue
- Palantir operates in classified and compartmented environments, which makes investigation difficult.
- Many journalists lack the access or technical background to track the nuance of procurement violations or reverse engineering disputes.
- After years of unresolved criticism, media fatigue set in—journalists moved on, and watchdog groups prioritized new targets (e.g., TikTok, Clearview AI, etc.).
Conclusion:
Palantir’s avoidance of procurement law, unauthorized deployments, and its aggressive discrediting of rivals like IBM/i2 have been documented but neutralized by its strategic utility, legal successes, lobbying efforts, and narrative control. The firm masks tactical rule-breaking with patriotic branding, which has proved highly effective in suppressing deeper accountability.
True, false, reality, or hallucinatory? I don’t know. Nuclear in the context of this ChatGPT output that suggests the Palantir outfit is definitely operating in a very interesting manner. What would Palantir’s AI say about the company?
Stephen E Arnold, June 30, 2025
Microsoft and Palantir: Moving Up to Higher Impact Levels
August 20, 2024
Microsoft And Palantir Sell AI Spyware To Us Government
While AI is making the news about how it will end jobs, be used for deep fakes, and overturn creativity industries, there’s something that’s not being mentioned: spyware. The Verge writes about how two big technology players are planning to bring spyware to the US government: “Palantir Partners With Microsoft To Sell AI To The Government.”
Palantir and Microsoft recently announced they will combine their software to power services for US defense and intelligence services. Microsoft’s large language models (LLMs) will be used via Azure OpenAI Service with Palantir’s AI Platforms (AIP). These will be used through Microsoft’s classified government cloud environments. This doesn’t explain exactly what the combination of software will do, but there’s speculation.
Palantir is known for its software that analyses people’s personal data and helping governments and organizations with surveillance. Palantir has been very successful when it comes to government contracts:
“Despite its large client list, Palantir didn’t post its first annual profit until 2023. But the AI hype cycle has meant that Palantir’s “commercial business is exploding in a way we don’t know how to handle,” the company’s chief executive officer Alex Carp told Bloomberg in February. The majority of its business is from governments, including that of Israel — though the risk factors section of its annual filing notes that it does not and will not work with “the Chinese communist party.””
Eventually the details about Palantir’s and Microsoft’s partnership will be revealed. It probably won’t be off from what people imagine, but it is guaranteed to be shocking.
Whitney Grace, August 20, 2024
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
