THE YEAR IN BIG DATA: ALEX KARP GOES TO WAR

PALANTIR'S CEO IS GOOD WITH ICE AND SAYS HE DEFENDS HUMAN RIGHTS. BUT WILL ISRAEL AND TRUMP EVER GO TOO FAR FOR HIM?

- BY STEVEN LEVY PHOTOGRAPHS BY SARAH KARLAN

ALEX KARP AND I would not seem to have much in common. I work for WIRED, which does tough reporting on Trumpworld; Karp is the CEO of Palantir, a $450 billion firm that has contracts with agencies like the CIA and ICE and worked for the Israeli military during its campaign in Gaza. I live in the East Village of New York City, and the home Karp spends the most time in is a 500-acre compound in rural New Hampshire. (Last year he was one of the highest paid executives in the United States.) I was a plain old English major, and he's got a law degree and a PhD in philosophy, studying under the legendary Jürgen Habermas. I consider myself a progressive; Karp regards that stuff as "pagan religion."

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

But we can bond over one shared status: Both of us are alumni of Central High School, a Philadelphia magnet school. (Not at the same time. I have some years on the 58-year-old executive.) Maybe it was that connection that led Karp to agree to a sit-down. The son of a Jewish pediatrician and a Black artist, Karp struggled with dyslexia, and at Central he seems to have turned a corner—even speculating now that overcoming the challenge helped position him for later success.

We conducted our interview at an annual gathering of Palantir's corporate customers. The event had the giddy vibe of a multilevel marketing summit. The customers I talked to—from giants like American Airlines to relatively modest family firms—said that Palantir's AI-powered systems are expensive but well worth it.