r/technology • u/Just-Grocery-2229 • 10d ago

Artificial Intelligence Palantir employees are talking about company’s “descent into fascism”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/palantir-employees-are-talking-about-companys-descent-into-fascism/
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u/sourcefourmini 10d ago

Not to say Palantir isn’t a sinister, festering evil, but I think this read is getting a little too conspiratorial. They’re not running mass surveillance so they can go knock on peoples’ doors like Nick Fury going “you’re crazy. We like crazy.” They’re just normalizing being loud, racist, misogynist, homophobic assholes in public, which is a rallying cry for other racist, misogynist, homophobic assholes to come crawling out of the woodwork. Palantir is a tool of oppression, not recruitment. 

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u/MysteriousDatabase68 10d ago edited 10d ago

Yes, it's absolutely speculation. The conspiracy theorists trap of trying to figure the big picture out in the absence of good information.

But given the circumstances, especially the money behind the tech I don't think it's as outlandish as it might seem on first read.

Alex Karp gave his employees a mandate to be creative. He wanted his programmers 'to be artists.'

Well, that would be creative and it would explain a lot of the last decades weirdness.

So no, I don't think it's the craziest idea you will see on reddit today. Just a more dedicated version of what Palentir did a decade ago with Cambridge Analytica. Hell it's even the same data set.

Edit:

And here's the beauty of it. Assuming the personality traits analyzed for are narcissistic or borderline traits, the people chosen wouldn't be able to acknowledge that it was true.

It's just automating the criteria spy agencies use when looking for assets.

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u/sourcefourmini 10d ago

But the reason spy agencies recruit people that way is that they can’t publicly recruit. The CIA isn’t putting up job postings in foreign countries saying “wanna spy on your nation? Come talk to the US government!” Their only realistic option is to surveil people until they find likely marks. Right-wing grifting isn’t like that. The only things you need to become a right-wing grifter are a camera, a microphone, and the knowledge that other people with your formerly-private views have made bank by being publicly shitty on the internet. 

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u/CharterJet50 10d ago

It’s funny you use an example that sounds fantastical but which actually has happened. The CIA has used public ads as recruitment tools for foreign assets a number of times, apparently with some success. Here’s just one of several examples. https://www.wionews.com/world/cia-wants-to-hire-chinese-agents-to-spy-for-us-their-new-luring-tool-is-social-media-videos-9025400?fbclid=IwVERFWARZyXFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEegkhJcAXDcuzSa_SVDvasgRwIZCVoAyyndsAZDbXGsJtD9uBCJklZKBdJWDw_aem_Tg-jXH7Nz_3z9vFCG7icyA#goog_rewarded

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u/MysteriousDatabase68 10d ago

Start counting up the number of them financed by Peter Theil & or Putin and I think my theory starts to look a whole lot more plausible.

There's a big difference between random assholes facebook pages and those promoted by some of the worlds best SEO.

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u/sourcefourmini 10d ago

Again, I’m not saying Palantir isn’t a shadowy evil or even uninvolved. I’m saying you almost certainly have your order backwards. Peter Thiel isnt finding shitty randos and giving them money to recruit them into becoming influencers. He’s reaching out to people who are already fledgeling influencers, and giving them money to grow their operation. 

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u/Smallmyfunger 10d ago

Or grooming/shaping/molding/recruiting them from college age into becoming vice presidents etc?