Alarm has been caused by a manifesto published by US spy tech company Palantir, which extols the benefits of American power and implies some cultures are inferior. MPs have called the document “a parody of a RoboCop film” and “the ramblings of a supervillain”.
The 22-point post on X over the weekend called for an end to the “postwar neutering” of Germany and Japan, urged the US to reinstate a military draft, and predicted a future dominated by autonomous weapons. “The question is not whether AI weapons will be built; it is who will build them and for what purpose,” it stated.
The pronouncement is the latest from Palantir and its chief executive, Alex Karp, who appears to view himself as a pundit on the future of civilisation. It has led to criticism from several MPs, who say it raises further questions about the UK’s portfolio of contracts with the company, which total more than £500m, including a £330m deal with the NHS.
Martin Wrigley, a Liberal Democrat MP, said the manifesto “embraces AI state surveillance of citizens along with national service in the USA” and shows the company’s ethos is “entirely unsuited to working on UK government projects involving citizens’ most sensitive private data”. Labour MP Rachael Maskell called for the government to understand Palantir’s culture and ideology, and to exit its contracts “at the earliest opportunity”.
Last month, it was reported that Palantir was to be given access to highly sensitive UK financial regulation data after the Financial Conduct Authority awarded it a contract. MPs have urged the government to stop this deal and to scrap the NHS contract.
