Uncanny Valley | WIRED In Alex Karp’s World, Palantir Is the Underdog
Nov 13, 2025
Steven Levy, a veteran technology journalist, interviews Palantir CEO Alex Karp, exploring the company's controversial contracts with agencies like ICE. Karp defends Palantir's technostate ideology, presenting it as an infrastructure player rather than a surveillance giant. They discuss the shift in Silicon Valley toward defense work and the cultural dynamics among startups aligned with military contracts. Karp's underdog branding, despite Palantir's market success, adds another layer of intrigue to this revealing conversation.
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Interview Tone Shift Reveals Candor
- Alex Karp's interview energy shifted from hyper on-camera to calmer off-camera, revealing different tones.
- Steven Levy says Karp was candid but combative, aiming to explain rather than persuade.
Roots And Intellectual Formation
- Karp grew up in Philadelphia with a pediatrician father and an artist mother and is dyslexic.
- He earned a philosophy PhD in Germany and studied with Jürgen Habermas, shaping his intellectual outlook.
Palantir Is Plumbing, Not A Data Hoard
- Palantir functions more like infrastructure than a centralized surveillance hub, offering Foundry and Gotham.
- The company shifted from embedded consulting to scalable software products, boosting profitability.
