Why are the only options “China wins” or “surveillance state”?

Western labs have one big problem: they put self-interest above strategic results. That could play against them.

Alex Karp frames this as a geopolitical choice, but the outcome of a US win on his terms is domestic: Palantir is cemented as a permanent arm of the state, fusing corporate and government surveillance power.

"To defeat China, we must BECOME China!" - Alex Karp, 2025 Preferable to who?

It’s a tough truth The cost of leadership in AI might be tolerating some surveillance The real challenge is building power without losing principles

There’s room in this world for more than one AI program. In fact, I’m already choosing to use @grok

adulting101 isn’t always fun He’s right. America MUST dominate.

It makes no difference whatever to the majority of mankind what clique of trillionaires ultimately rule. Whoever it is, the logic of cost savings and efficiency dictates the removal of the mass of mankind once their economic value goes to zero.

Demonic. No. We're not going to create a survellience state just to keep your company afloat. China is strong, but their strength doesn't justify your evil. Be more creative, more principled, and less hungry for power, and you'll find a path. We all will.

This argument assumes that technological leadership and authoritarian deployment are inseparable.. which isn't necessarily true. The competitive advantage doesn't come from building better surveillance tools. It comes from creating AI systems that people and organizations actually want to adopt because they're transparent, auditable.. and aligned with democratic values. That's a much harder technical problem to solve.. but it's also a more defensible moat. China can mandate adoption. We have to earn it through trust. That constraint is actually our strategic advantage if we're willing to invest in it.

to be fair if we take a step back, china is the one releasing open source models. i agree with him we're in a race, but we're the ones creating that race

Chinese labs are the ones releasing open source models. No one believes these liars anymore

let’s not turn ai into cold war 2, the real win is open progress not just beating china at all costs

Every time I say this someone corrects me.

why not neither?

A typical deep state critic be like:

“Surveillance is dangerous” sure, but what’s worse? Losing control or losing freedom? Tough trade-off.

This guy helped kill more than 10,000 kids in Gaza. Fucking trash.

Just be thankful the UK isnt in the race.

True, Chubby, it's a real head-scratcher - the AI race is definitely a big deal, and the stakes are super high, right?

This is Samaritan from Person of Interest.

what does ‘winning’ the AI race even look like? achieving AGI? if so, is what are the specifics to define AGI? and why can’t we just have multiple models from different origins as an outcome?

Alex Karp proves Democrats can dialogue with Republicans through shared values. I admire that. But his doomsday China stance uses eschatological zero-sum thinking, not reason, to justify surveillance. I know he knows better.

@grok what are his arguments ? "he argues that the alternative (China winning) would be even worse"

Ok, let’s make sure he gets surveiled first then.

As if we weren’t already living in one 😂

On oscille entre hotdogs et surveillance d'État : où est passée la réflexion éthique sur l'IA ? Il est temps d'élever le débat au-delà du moindre mal et des petites absurdités.

This guy is a typical warmonger. But when there is a war, he will be the first to surrender. Just look at his hair style, pretty sissy one.

It’s interesting how China is so quiet why the US is screaming all the time “we need to win!!!!!!!”

If you believe Alex Karp you’ll deserve it when the Palantir skynet terminator peels your face off for wrongthink

If this surveillance crap continues they will force people to kick out communication technology from their community and arm themselves to the teeth. People will then go about their business and some pervert will sit in front of the screen looking at them through a satellite and analyzing with AI their every move. Soon, one thing, surveillance pervert will realize. There is no escape from planet Earth and he is stuck here with the rest of us. Time will pass and surveillance pervert will start to realize that spying on fellow humans is wrong and it doesn't make sense. Maybe even AI will help him come to that simple conclusion. Whoever wins in this dick game, remember one thing, spying on other people is wrong.

China's approach is to use decentralized systems powered by renewable energy, fostering non hierarchal management and responsible implementations. Our approach is to build the largest feasible AI farms to extend and ensure elite control while dismissing environmental concerns. 🤔

Let's turn into China in order to defeat China. I fucking hate it here...