As fears swirl that American manufacturing workers and skilled laborers may soon be replaced by artificial intelligence and robots, Alex Karp, CEO of the AI and data analytics software company Palantir Technologies, hopes to change the narrative.
“It’s not true, and in fact, it’s kind of the opposite,” Karp said in an interview with Fortune Thursday at the company’s commercial customer conference, AIPCon, where Palantir customers showcased how they were using the company’s software platform and generative AI within their own businesses at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, Calif.
The primary danger of AI in this country, says Karp, is that workers don’t understand that AI will actually help them in their roles—and it will hardly replace them. “Silicon Valley’s done an immensely crappy job of explaining that,” he said. “If you’re in manufacturing, in any capacity: You’re on the assembly line, you maintain a complicated machine—you have any kind of skilled labor job—the way we do AI will actually make your job more valuable and make you more valuable. But currently you would think—just roaming around the country, and if you listen to the AI narratives coming out of Silicon Valley—that all these people are going to lose their jobs tomorrow.”
Karp made these comments the day before the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its August jobs report, which showcased a climbing unemployment rate and stagnating hiring figures, reigniting fears of whether AI is at all responsible for the broader slowdown. There has been limited data thus far suggesting that generative AI is to blame for the slowing jobs market—or even job cuts for that matter—though a recent ADP hiring report offered a rare suggestion that AI may be one of several factors influencing hiring sentiment. Some executives, including Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, have cited the efficiency gains of AI for layoffs at their companies, and others, like Ford CEO Jim Farley and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, have made lofty predictions about how AI is on track to replace jobs in the future. Most of these projections have been centered around white collar roles, in particular, versus manufacturing or skilled labor positions.
Karp, who has a PhD in neoclassical social theory and a reputation for being outspoken and contrarian on many issues, argues that fears of AI eliminating skilled labor jobs are unfounded—and he’s committed to “correcting” the public perception.
Earlier this week, Palantir launched “Working Intelligence: The AI Optimism Project,” a quasi-public information and marketing campaign centered around artificial intelligence in the workplace. The project has begun with a series of short blog posts featuring Palantir’s customers and their opinions on AI, as well as a “manifesto” that takes aim at both the “doomers” and “pacifiers” of AI. “Doomers fear, and pacifiers welcome, a future of conformity: a world in which AI flattens human difference. Silicon Valley is already selling such bland, dumbed-down slop,” the manifesto declares, arguing that the true power of AI is not to standardize but to “supercharge” workers.
Jordan Hirsch, who is spearheading the new project at Palantir, said that there are approximately 20 people working on it and that they plan to launch a corresponding podcast.
While Palantir has an obvious commercial interest in dispelling public fears about AI, Karp framed his commitment to the project as something important for society. Fears about job replacement will “feed a kind of weird populism based on a notion that’s not true—that’s going to make the factions on the right and left much, much, much more powerful based on something that’s not true,” he said. “I think correcting that—but not just by saying platitudes, but actually showing how this works, is one of the most important things we have to get on top of.”
Karp said he planned to invest “lots of energy and money” into the AI Optimism Project. When asked how much money, he said he didn’t know yet, but that “we have a lot of money, and it’s one of my biggest priorities.”
Palantir has seen enormous growth within the commercial side of its business in the last two years, largely due to the artificial intelligence product it released in 2023, called “AIP.” Palantir’s revenue surpassed $1 billion for the first time last quarter. And while Palantir only joined the S&P 500 last year, it now ranks as one of the most valuable companies in the world thanks to its soaring stock price.
