Palantir CEO: Call To Pause AI Development A Tactic For Those Lagging Behind To Catch-up

Palantir CEO Strongly Opposed To Pausing AI Research

Alex Karp, CEO of software company Palantir Technologies, has made it clear that he is completely opposed to the call by some in the industry to pause research in Artificial intelligence. According to Karp, they calling for a pause in AI research because they have no product ready.

Karp’s remarks regarding the letter came in his interview with BBC Radio on Thursday. Karp was referencing the open letter published by prominent figures in tech such as Elon Musk who introduced the idea of halting AI research on models larger than GPT-4.

Karp believes that the pause is being advocated by individuals who have no substantial contributions to offer. He continued by saying that such a halt might give opponents a chance to acquire an advantage in both military and economic applications.

While it can be said that the Palantir CEO’s sentiment is because his company is ahead in the AI field, his words do hold some water. One of the biggest names to co-sign the open letter is Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

See also

Tech & Science

IBM’s Future Hiring Policy Is Proof That The AI Takeover Is Not Folklore

As reported by Wall Street in April, Elon Musk has created a new company dedicated to AI called X.AI. The news of the company came a few weeks after the letter calling for a pause on AI development.

If the pause were to be enforced, this would give Musk the time he needs to launch his product and catch up with the technologies in the market.

According to him, it is important to maintain an edge in the field. He said, “Studying this and allowing other people to win both in commercial areas and on the battlefield” is a bad strategy.

Karp responded that there was already an active AI arms race and stressed that slowing down would not put an end to it when asked whether there would be an AI race analogous to the Cold War arms race.

Palantir Progress In The AI Game

Palantir is a software company founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Alex Karp (CEO), Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen, and others. The company specializes in data analysis, particularly in the fields of cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and intelligence.

As of June 2023, Palantir is officially in the AI race. This was made official by the official launch of the company’s AI platform. Using the same kinds of large language models, or LLMs, that drive chatbots like ChatGPT, the technology can produce conversational responses.

Prior to the release, the CEO was hyping the platform up claiming that the company was making developments in the AI industry that were so powerful that “I’m not sure we should even sell this.”

The algorithm can be seen in action in a demo that the business uploaded on YouTube, helping identify an enemy tank and suggesting possible targets. According to the business, some of its first capabilities are already being used by Ukrainian soldiers.