Palantir CEO Alex Karp says Sen. Bernie Sanders won’t be seen as sufficiently progressive in two years because he wants the U.S. government to take just a 50% ownership stake in the country’s largest AI companies. Karp told CNBC on Wednesday that full nationalization is likely coming—and will become the mainstream position of the left—because the AI revolution is going to radically change the world. “You know how people don’t think I’m progressive? In two years, they’re not going to think Bernie Sanders is progressive. They’re going to be like ‘Bernie Sanders, you only want 50%? What is this 50%?'” said Karp. Karp referred to himself during the interview as a “card-carrying progressive,” something that interviewer Sara Eisen questioned, given his alignment with President Donald Trump and dismissal of many progressive issues—from DEI to Israel’s war in Gaza.
“The question is not whether I’m progressive,” said Karp. “The question is whether some progressives are progressive. I am progressive. I want poor people to have better lifestyle, higher standard of living, all poor people.”
Karp said that the most important political decisions in the country will be driven by whether politicians understand AI. He also said that the American people are wondering what is going to happen to them when it comes to things like job losses, “and the answers aren’t all good or bad.” The Palantir CEO said that Americans would have to “retrain and retool” and he sees that as something the U.S. is better positioned to do than folks in Europe. There has been a push in recent months by people like Bernie Sanders, an independent in Vermont who caucuses with the Democrats, to get some kind of public ownership of the AI companies. The idea is that AI will cause such massive societal upheaval, that the only solution will likely be a universal basic income for people who are thrown out of work.
