ChatGPT, OpenAI, Sora, Google AI, Alexa, Siri, Grok: all these companies have something in common. They are some of the most used AI platforms in our world, on a daily basis. At least one form of artificial intelligence is available to 8 billion people and counting.

Omdia, an analyst intelligence powerhouse, projects that the global AI market will be worth $200 billion by 2028. What was first a homework helper or a vacation organizer is now a global market of over $200 billion.

Companies are entering a new age of tech, a CEO being able to complete the task of 200 workers with one prompt typed into his very own AI software that is tailored to the CEO’s exact needs.

So, what makes AI so threatening? It’s not AI itself that’s wrong; it’s what sits behind the computer and who is threatening. The current-day spotlight sits on an AI powerhouse set out of Denver, Colorado, called Palantir. Palantir is a data-analysis and software creation company that specializes in creating software platforms specialized for government, military, police force, and border patrol. 

Many Fortune 500 companies use Palantir’s software to analyze data and help make real-time decisions based on the data. Each piece of data picked up is put into one place and sorted in real time. Palantir is used around the world by dozens of different countries, but one in particular sparks major outrage and a demand for resolution. But first we need to get familiar with who and what Palantir is.

Palantir was founded by Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale, and Nathan Gettings. Lonsdale has left Palantir since, but the rest remain. Two of these five are in the spotlight the most today. Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal along with Elon Musk, is also known for his strong political views and relations with current president Donald Trump. Thiel also has caught the eye of the spotlight for funding our current Vice President J.D. Vance in his campaign. 

Alex Karp is a strong voice in activism for the conflict going on in Gaza, and has openly funded Israel in their attempt to fight with Palestine. This connects back to Palantir because they have now partnered with ICE under a new $30 million dollar deal, allowing Palantir to create a new software called “ImmigrationOS,” which is a surveillance platform that aims to survey who may have overstayed their visa, and can help decide whether to deport an individual based on the past history and data that ImmigrationOS has captured.

Palantir has been in the U.S. for decades: The Obama and Biden administrations have all signed contracts with Palantir, but it’s the order for control that Trump and his administration have demanded that scares citizens and those who have come to America for a better life. Many politicians, such as Rep. Seth Moulton, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, have come out against ICE and said their policies have been an abuse of power and an excessive over-reach in politics and government.

Across the pond there has been a conflict without resolution for a long time, and that being the Israel-Palestine conflict. Palantir co-founder Alex Karp has been a strong advocate for Israel in this conflict and has given the Israeli government Palantir software, the conflict with Palantir in Israel is just like with ImmigrationOS; it poses an unfair threat to those that are being surveyed. Israel is using Palantir’s software to track, survey, and judge those who the AI seems to pose a threat, with this judgement it can be considered enough to make a fatal call. 

This is not a dystopian video game or your favorite novel, this is reality. Technology is always advancing, and it’s hard to keep up, but we need to know how to properly use it for the great or good. AI is constantly used around the world everyday, every second, processing data in small fractions of a second helping us understand the human body better, and solve modern-day issues that would be difficult to solve without.