Palantir CEO claims AI will mean western economies won't need immigration
- Reference: 1769009460
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/01/21/palantir_ceo_karp_claims_ai/
- Source link:
Last year, it was the idea of [1]innate western superiority and his belief that his company's software product was "the only reason why someone's not goose-stepping between me and you" [2]on the streets of Europe .
This week, after promising not to go on one of his "usual political screeds," the Palantir CEO went off on one, as the Brits like to say, launching into a speculative analysis of the impact of AI on immigration. Two hot topics in one: bingo.
[3]
Flying into Davos for the World Economic Forum — or perhaps appearing in a puff of red smoke from under a ghoulish cloak — Karp responded to probing about the impact of AI on the jobs market.
[4]
[5]
"I do think these trends [in AI] really do make it hard to imagine why we should have large-scale immigration unless you have a very specialized skill," he said.
He was unlikely to have his worldview significantly challenged by his interviewer, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, the septuagenarian billionaire Co-Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
[6]
And so it proved, with Fink gliding past the notion that many immigrants fulfil roles in health, construction, or service industry jobs that western nations find hard to fill, and focusing on the important point for attendees: the impact on white-collar jobs.
The point is not without merit: [7]4.7 million non-US-born workers fulfil professional and business services roles , for example.
During the World Economic Forum session, Karp agreed that AI would lead to fewer white collar jobs. But went on to say that organizations "need different ways of testing aptitude."
Palantir boss says outfit's software the only reason the 'goose step' has not returned to Europe [8]READ MORE
"There are a lot of people doing X that should be doing Y," he said, adding that one of his main tasks at the US-based spy-tech company was "walking around figuring out what is someone's outlier aptitude."
Outside the febrile atmosphere of the WEF Annual Meeting, skeptics on the actual benefits of AI are becoming more commonplace.
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Yesterday, Deutsche Bank analysts Adrian Cox and Stefan Abrudan published a note declaring the "the honeymoon is over" for AI. The AI market will be hit by disillusionment, dislocation, and distrust, they said. "This matters as AI investment and optimism are buoying the global economy, accounting for [10]most of economic and earnings growth in the US last year," [11]they said , suggesting the consequences should the AI boom go into reverse.
The sentiment echoed earlier [12]comments from Gartner , which said enterprise adoption of AI was in the so-called "trough of disillusionment," while investment from AI, cloud, and software companies was still sky-rocketing. Meanwhile, the majority of CEOs are reporting zero pay-offs from AI investments, [13]according to PwC .
[14]British Palantir rival, whose founder touted UK tech sovereignty, sells to Accenture
[15]UK urged to unplug from US tech giants as digital sovereignty fears grow
[16]Repent ye inefficient – the 'Palantir-ization' of IT services is upon us
[17]US gov't launches 'Tech Force' to replace IT staff DOGE fired
Karp admitted AI is a "very low-trust environment," which is why Palantir needs very few salespeople.
In the case of building AI systems, he said, "people have tried lots of stuff. A lot of it hasn't worked. But if [like Palantir] you've delivered stuff that does work, why do you need a salesforce?"
Of course, in the conversation about AI and the future of work in the western world, Karp found room to claim Palantir's enterprise projects can save "80 percent of your cost and improve your top line dramatically."
Perhaps the question is really, when you have Alex Karp, why do you need a salesforce? He admitted he got pressure from inside Palantir saying he "should stop speaking in public," but that's all part of the schtick. Because, notwithstanding the chronic verbal diarrhea, his outlier aptitude is undoubtedly making himself and his company the center of attention. It's a shame we will all smell the consequences when the winds change. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/28/palantir_boss_fii_speech/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/04/palantir_karp_comments/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aXEGNwikQXIQDYnSZ2BJiQAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXEGNwikQXIQDYnSZ2BJiQAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXEGNwikQXIQDYnSZ2BJiQAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXEGNwikQXIQDYnSZ2BJiQAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://usafacts.org/articles/which-industries-employ-the-most-immigrant-workers/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/28/palantir_boss_fii_speech/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXEGNwikQXIQDYnSZ2BJiQAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/20/global_economy_shrugs_off_us/
[11] https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/21/-duetsche-bank-honeymoon-is-over-for-ai-explain-why.html
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/16/hyperscales_and_vendor_fund_trillion/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/20/pwc_ai_ceo_survey
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/07/accenture_acquires_palantir_uk_rival_faculty/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/06/uk_urged_to_unplug_from/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/16/shield_technology_partners_nabs_palantir/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/15/us_government_tech_force/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Immigration
So a lot of the jobs in the care industry are going to performed by AI? Or is the expectation that enough people will lose their jobs due to AI that they will naturally fill the gaps in the care industry (which they don't currently want to work in) and we won't need the support of 'immigrants' without whom our care system would have collapsed years ago?
Re: Immigration
Came to say the same
Top 5 job sectors driving immigration to the UK are (and have been for while):
Healthcare and Social Care - AI will make little to no difference
Hospitality - AI will make little to no difference
IT & Tech - AI will probably INCREASE the desire for those skills and bringing them in from overseas at least in the short-medium term
Civil/Mechanical Engineering & Skilled Construction trades - AI will make little to no difference
Teaching - AI will make little to no difference
So overall, certainly for the UK, I think he's talking out of his crystal balls
Re: Immigration
Most people don't realise how big of a gravy train the care sector is.
Care homes receive massive amount of money for care and they can certainly afford to hire locals at wages that would encourage people to get into that profession, but why if Home Office can open immigration taps and shareholders can pocket the money?
Re: Immigration
Adult social care work has some of the worst paid, most insecure (think zero-hours contracts) jobs around, with horrible working hours and conditions. Plenty of large care home operators have gone bust in recent years, because it is not actually a huge gravy train at all. For example, Southern Cross, who, if my memory serves me correctly, were operating something like 600 care homes across the UK before they went bankrupt.
Certainly some of the private operators may be rinsing their clients for lots of cash (and I can think of a couple of "premium" operators who fit this description), but the provision of care actually costs lots of money, and most "bums in beds" are funded by local councils, who have to raise that cash through council taxes; these have been squeezed by something like 40% in real terms by "austerity" measures, meaning that a good number of these clients are likely to be, in reality, loss-makers, but necessary for the care homes to have an operating licence for the clients that do make them money.
AC, because I work in the sector, and don't really want to identify myself.
Re: Immigration
Adult social care work has some of the worst paid
Yes, because market is not free. The providers keep low wages, then complain to government they cannot find workers and government open immigration taps to keep wages low and profits high.
You have to be really incompetent to bankrupt a care home.
Re: Immigration
Ive taken 4 elderly relatives on the journey through home and residential care in the UK and there was a brief period (when it was initially devolved from local authorities) when it was reasonably well funded. Since then the margins have got thinner and thinner and the qualifying level of need before you get it has gone up and up. It survives on the good will of staff who are very poorly paid, work long shifts and get few breaks. 'Perks', like getting a meal, have long gone. If it weren't for the carrot of residence in the UK there wouldn't be anywhere near the number of carers required.
I've also done my share of double incontinence care and I can tell you that AI is going to be of no assistance whatsoever.
Re: Immigration
Exactly - a complete return to the Middle Age where few lucky ones lived in castles reaping all the richness, and the other were serfs without any hope.
Sometimes, anyway, castles got burned by peasants...
Mr Karp plays the role of an outrider for the Orange Miasma convincingly.
Another scumbag
shooting off his mouth.
No suprise.
But our governments will still keep using stuff sold by scumbags, whilst saying they don't like scumbags.
Dont invest in Palantir clearly no understanding of risk or network effects
So there is or he believes there soon will be AI that can deal with personal care, health care, and construction for a growing ageing population and he is confident that the education systems in Noth America and Europe (or whatever he means by western countries) can deliver the skills to manage the fleet of AI systems (and I assume robots that are ready to build and provide care). I wouldn't bet on that but even if we assume it:
Societies also don't need the diversity of thought or freedom of opportunity that immigration and emigration brings even though we have had it since the start of recorded history over 6000 years ago?
People will accept machines in these roles?
There is enough energy and water available to deliver this?
Delivering this in the current energy system wont kill the planet?
How many "immigrants" work in the Valley and brought the innovation US is built on?
Is Karp sure he can do without and maintain the lead?
It should be more worried many people now would think twice to move in the US, unless they put money above all.
Someone has made a lot of money doing something
... does that mean they are worth listening to about other things?
Probably not. Certainly, hubris has a great record for cutting people down to size, and revealing the amazing truth: that someone is pretty much just like someone else, and therefore it is wise not to take them too seriously, however much loot they may have amassed. And, make sure your wallet is safely out of their reach.
A grain of truth
But AI isn't the whole story in the case of my UK based employer.
Their priority is to grow their offshore (India) development office as they reduce/at the expense of the onshore headcount.
And AI is the cherry on top - a 3 line whip from the top to embrace AI across the board.
In the end, there'll be onshore senior management supported by offshore tech personnel. That would have happened despite AI
Presumably,
"the only reason why someone's not goose-stepping between [him] and [me]" is that Peter Thiel is stood behind him, not in front of him?
Karp talks Crap.
Economy
By economy I think he means greedy shareholders and corrupt governments.
By need of immigration, they mean exploitation of people who are accustomed to poverty.
Why pay local a fair wage if corrupt Home Office can let them bring immigrant for fraction of market rate...