TL;DRPalantir’s Karp predicts full AI nationalization in two years. He says Sanders’ 50% proposal will look moderate. Trump, Sanders, and Karp agree the shift is coming.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp says full nationalization of AI companies is coming, and that Senator Bernie Sanders’ proposal for 50% public ownership will soon look moderate. “In two years, they’re not going to think Bernie Sanders is progressive,” Karp told CNBC on Wednesday. “They’re going to be like, ‘Bernie Sanders, you only want 50%? What is this 50%?'”
Karp said he has spent six months privately warning top AI executives about the threat. “The momentum is on the side of people who want to nationalise them,” he said. He described himself as a “card-carrying progressive” and argued that the most important political decisions in the country will be driven by whether politicians understand AI.
The prediction lands in an increasingly crowded political space. Sanders has outlined his American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, which would impose a one-time 50% tax on stock, not profits, from companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI. Trump has said he plans to meet AI company leaders to discuss some form of public ownership, calling it a “partnership with the American public.” The two sides disagree on nearly everything else.
