Palantir CEO Alex Karp Says AI Labs Are Chasing ‘Tokens’ While Enterprises Fear for Their IP: ‘Something Has Gone Completely Wrong’

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On Wednesday, Palantir Technologies Inc. CEO Alex Karp argued that many enterprise customers are growing increasingly skeptical of frontier AI companies, warning that businesses fear sacrificing their intellectual property and competitive advantage in exchange for AI services.

Alex Karp Says Enterprises Want Value — Not More ‘Tokens’

Karp delivered a blistering critique of leading AI companies during an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box, arguing that the industry has lost sight of what enterprise customers actually want.

While joking that he would enjoy debating Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei privately and insisting he was “not throwing shade” at AI leaders, Karp said the broader AI ecosystem has “gone completely wrong.”

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“The basic view among enterprises in this country is ‘I’m going to chillax and waste my time with tokens, I’m going to get no value, and they’re going to get my IP,'” Karp said.

According to Karp, executives have privately told him they are increasingly worried that AI companies could gain access to their proprietary data and their “alpha” — the unique competitive edge that differentiates a business.

“We need to build trust,” he said, adding that companies are growing tired of AI promises that fail to translate into meaningful business outcomes.

Palantir CEO Raises Concerns Over AI Control And Enterprise Data

Karp also questioned whether critical decisions surrounding AI, particularly in defense applications, should be influenced by the policy preferences of Silicon Valley companies.

Appearing to reference Anthropic’s reported disagreements with the U.S. government over certain military uses of AI, he said, “Are we really going to outsource the battlefield of this country to the consensus view in Silicon Valley? That is effing insane.”

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When CNBC co-anchor Becky Quick remarked that he sounded angry, Karp replied, “No. This is the voice of American business that is being channeled through me.”

He went on to say that many CEOs privately share his frustration, saying they are “twice as livid” about the current direction of enterprise AI.

Investors And Industry Leaders Echo Karp’s Concerns

The interview quickly sparked reactions across the technology community.

Futurum Equities Chief Market Strategist Shay Boloor said Karp’s message reflected a growing demand among enterprises for ownership, security and control over their “compute, models, data stack and alpha,” rather than simply paying for AI tokens.

$PLTR CEO Alex Karp says customers want control over their “compute, models, data stack & alpha” instead of handing their edge to frontier labs.

Enterprises don’t just want token access but want ownership, security & AI systems that don’t give away the value of their business. pic.twitter.com/nGUYQH6Gur

— Shay Boloor (@StockSavvyShay) July 1, 2026

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Investor and All-In Podcast host Jason Calacanis argued that frontier AI companies could use heavily discounted AI access to attract customers before ultimately leveraging that position to compete with them, adding that open-source AI is the best defense.

I’ve been shouting about this for over a year….

The Frontier models need to win the application layer and they’re going to do that by giving free tokens to startups and discounted ones to large companies in order to steal their IP, innovations, and businesses

The only way to…

— @jason (@Jason) July 1, 2026

Meanwhile, Moor Insights & Strategy CEO Patrick Moorhead said every CEO should watch the interview, writing that Karp was voicing concerns “few will say” publicly about the risks businesses face when relying on frontier AI models.

Every CEO should watch this video on risks of losing their inventions and business processes to frontier models. Alex Karp is saying out loud what few will say. Yes, Palantir benefits from this, but seeing @AnthropicAI behavior, seems legit to me. pic.twitter.com/L8VfiVf6Pz

— Patrick Moorhead (@PatrickMoorhead) July 1, 2026

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

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