Palantir CEO shares warning about the dangers of AI 'arms race'

Palantir CEO Alex Karp on Thursday warned that either the United States or China will prevail in the artificial intelligence race – and that our tech industry needs to keep pushing forward to avoid the latter.

“My general bias on AI is it is dangerous, there are positive and negative consequences, and either we win or China will win,” Karp told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” 

“We’re in an arms race,” he added.

His warning came in response to questions about a GOP proposal to block states from regulating artificial intelligence for 10 years – which has taken heat from other leaders in the tech industry.

“A 10-year moratorium is far too blunt an instrument. AI is advancing too head-spinningly fast,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times.

“Without a clear plan for a federal response, a moratorium would give us the worst of both worlds — no ability for states to act, and no national policy as a backstop.”

Karp, whose software firm boasts partners like Microsoft, Oracle, Deloitte and PwC, argued that the US currently has the lead in the race thanks to its flourishing tech industry.

“There is no economy in the world with this kind of corporate leadership which is willing to pivot, which understands technologies, which is willing to look at new things, but also has deep domain expertise,” he said. 

“Our allies in the West, in Europe, are going to have to learn from us. Our allies in the Middle East are learning quicker from us. Our adversaries are trying to learn from us,” he continued.

Karp has long pushed for the US to prioritize gaining dominance in artificial intelligence over foreign nations, arguing that it requires an “all-country effort.”

In a recent letter to shareholders, Karp also made clear Palantir’s commitment to enhancing US defense interests.

He hit back, however, against a New York Times report that Palantir is helping the Trump administration gather data on Americans – telling CNBC that the company is “not surveilling Americans.”

Shares of the $306 billion AI firm outperformed last year and have continued to climb, soaring more than 60% so far this year.

The stock fell about 6% on Thursday.

But investors have to pay up for shares of the company, which has much higher multiples than peers in the tech industry.

When asked about the price, Karp said: “You don’t like the price, exit.”