Thirteen former employees of Palantir, a prominent data-mining firm, have criticized the company’s collaboration with the Trump administration. This comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agreed to pay Palantir $30 million for providing near real-time visibility into the movement of migrants within the U.S.
In an exclusive letter to NPR, these ex-employees, including software engineers and managers, expressed their belief in Palantir’s initial code of conduct, which emphasized upholding democracy and responsible AI development. They argue that Palantir’s ethical principles have been compromised.
Palantir, co-founded by Peter Thiel, uses AI to analyze data from various sources, presenting it in charts, tables, and heat maps. Its tools are now aiding the Trump administration’s goal of deporting one million migrants this year, contributing to a 200% surge in Palantir’s share price since Trump’s election.
The letter highlights Palantir’s increasing authoritarian rhetoric and criticizes the tech industry’s complicity in normalizing such practices. The former employees warn of a domino effect in Silicon Valley, urging tech workers to resist the misuse of AI in policies that may ignore due process rights.
— new from NPR