In September 2023, Alex Karp was among the tech executives invited to a daylong US Senate summit on AI regulation convened by Chuck Schumer. The CEO of Palantir Technologies, a secretive data analytics giant, was given a place of prominence: seated next to Elon Musk.

As the Tesla CEO made small talk during the press gaggle, Karp asked if he knew why they were seated together. Musk said he had no idea.

“It’s because the shotgun blast radius will only take out the two of us,” Karp said with a laugh.

It was vintage Karp. Even at an event affirming his insider status, he darkly positioned himself as an inconvenient interloper that the establishment would “gladly off if only it weren’t so dependent on his software,” writes Michael Steinberger in “ The Philosopher in the Valley .”

The ne

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