Palantir CEO rages against closed models

### TL;DR Palantir CEO Alex Karp sharply criticizes closed models, emphasizes that enterprises should control their own data, weights, and AI value, and introduces Palantir's ontology layer and model-agnostic strategy. ## The NVIDIA Deal and Model Control ### Who Controls the Model? Who Controls the Weights? When discussing the deal with NVIDIA, Karp said: "To understand how this deal came together, from my perspective, there are many technical issues: who controls the model? Who controls the weights? Who controls the value of your business?" He pointed out that Palantir is carrying critical infrastructure for the US, Ukraine, Israel, and others — "everyone using large language models on the battlefield is running on top of our ontology." ### Customer Dissatisfaction and Lack of Trust Karp revealed that Palantir's customers are unhappy with frontier labs, "just like I was unpopular when I taught at Berkeley. Behind it is a sense of unease and a lack of trust." He noted that when enterprises use large language models, the tech world recognizes they are critical resources, but to deliver value in an enterprise (e.g., battlefield environments, regulated environments, or manufacturing), there must be an "application layer." ## Palantir's Ontology Layer: Safe, Useful, Precise ### Data Security and IP Protection Karp explained that Palantir has something called an "ontology" — "everyone is copying it now, but in fact, it makes large language models safe, useful, and precise. Safe because it doesn't touch the underlying data, doesn't cache your data, doesn't replicate your business, doesn't transfer your intellectual property (whether it's combat secrets, classified data, or clinical data)." He criticized how models are currently sold: "The original way these models were sold — and I say again, Sam and Dario and these people... they got some things completely wrong. The prevailing view in corporate America is: I'm wasting my time with tokens and getting no value, while they take my intellectual property." ### Forward Deployed Model and Battlefield Application Karp emphasized: "Palantir's entire secret is the 'forward deployed model' — the product is five years ahead. ... The secret is: we gave the best stuff to the warfighters. Those warfighters have serious trust issues, but not just with frontier labs. Private enterprises have the same problem: for example, why should they get access to my data and then build my alpha? Why can't I control the weights?" ## Overselling Closed Models and the Wealth Tax ### The Token Pricing Trap Karp was blunt: "If they think it's so valuable, why charge by the token?" He believes the two things that actually generate profits and free cash flow are Palantir's application layer — the "ontology" — and compute power. He asked: "What is the real cost? It's not just what you pay, but what you earn minus what you lose — that is, the value of your business." ### Corporate Anger and Real Cost Karp said angrily: "I tell you, every company I talk to in this country, these people are furious. They say: I pay for tokens but create no value. These people are stealing the weights and alpha of my business, they are creating a wealth tax... This kind of selling is dangerous for everyone — that's why I can give it to all your competitors, but I can't safely give it to the Department of Defense or any enterprise in this country unless I'm sure that the alpha of that business won't be transferred into the model tomorrow." ## Open Models vs. Frontier Models ### The Triad: Model + Application Layer + Compute When asked whether Palantir's model can compete with frontier models, Karp replied: "My proposition — it's the model plus the application layer plus compute. All three are indispensable. ... I'm not just claiming that in classified or unclassified environments, we can bring open models up to the level of frontier models, but also that you control the weights." ### The Importance of Controlling Weights Karp further explained: "We can make frontier applications fully equivalent to frontier models, without the risk of transferring business alpha to others. ... In classified environments, when the Department of Defense comes to you and says 'I need this application,' can they control the weights to achieve it, or do you control the weights? Are we really going to outsource this country's battlefield to the consensus view of Silicon Valley? That's just insane." --- **Source** YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A3sGymV6kY