Palantir headquarters in Palo Alto, California, US, on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Palantir’s boss Alex Karp opposes the idea of a pause in artificial intelligence research, in contrast to an open letter from the Future of Life Institute signed by some of the biggest names in the tech industry.
The letter, which has garnered over 31,000 signatures including names like Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, called for a pause on AI research on models larger than GPT-4, which powers tools such as ChatGPT.
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The letter also said that if “such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.”
Speaking to BBC Radio in an interview broadcast Thursday, Karp said he is of the view that “many of the people asking for a pause, are asking for a pause because they have no product.”
He added, without naming anyone, that this is because “people who have nothing to offer want to study AI,” but by taking a pause, this could lead to adversaries stealing a lead in not only commercial applications, but also military applications.
To him, “studying this and allowing other people to win both on commercial areas and on the battlefield” is a really bad strategy.
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When asked if what he wanted was an “A.I. race” akin to the arms race of the Cold War, Karp simply stated that “there is already an A.I. arms race, it’s just we’re ahead, [and] it’s not like if we slow down, the AI race will stop.”
He pointed out that the “single most important event” in this race is not large language models like GPT-4, but instead how AI has been utilized in military applications.
Karp points out that Ukrainian forces have used Palantir technologies to gain a technological edge over invading Russian forces. A report from The Times in December 2022 revealed that Palantir’s AI has allowed Ukraine to increase the accuracy, speed and deadliness of its artillery strikes despite having comparatively smaller artillery forces. Palantir sells software to governments and private sector organizations which help them analyze large quantities of data.
The advent of this AI-powered software on the battlefield “just throws down a gauntlet to every single country in the world,” Karp said. He added, “especially [to] our adversaries, they cannot afford for us to have this advantage. And so, the race is on. There’s only a question of do we stay ahead or do we cede the lead.”
Tareq Amin, CEO of Humain, and Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, attend the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 13, 2025.
Hamad I Mohammed | Reuters
Nvidia will sell over 18,000 of its latest artificial intelligence chips to Saudi Arabian company Humain, CEO Jensen Huang announced on Tuesday.
The announcement was made as part of a White House-led trip to the region that includes President Donald Trump and other top CEOs.
The cutting-edge Blackwell chips will be used in a 500 megawatt data center in Saudi Arabia, according to remarks at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday. Nvidia said its first deployment will use its GB300 Blackwell chips, which are among Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips at the moment, and which were only officially announced earlier this year.
Tuesday’s announcement underscores the importance of Nvidia’s chips as a bargaining tool for the Trump administration as countries around the world clamor for the devices, which are used to train and deploy advanced AI software such as ChatGPT.
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“I am so delighted to be here to help celebrate the grand opening, the beginning of Humain,” Huang said. “It is an incredible vision, indeed, that Saudi Arabia should build the AI infrastructure of your nation so that you could participate and help shape the future of this incredibly transformative technology.”
Nvidia shares rose 4% in trading on Tuesday.
Last week, the Department of Commerce said that it was going to scrap what it called President Joe Biden’s rule, and implement a “much simpler rule.” Nvidia has also been required to seek an export license for its AI chips since 2023 because of national security concerns.
Humain will be owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and will work on developing AI models as well as building data center infrastructure, according to a press release. Humain’s plans eventually include deploying “several hundred thousand” Nvidia GPUs.
“Saudi Arabia is rich with energy, transforming the energy through this giant versions of these Nvidia AI supercomputers, which are essentially AI factories,” Huang said.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella leaves after attending a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 30, 2024.
Willy Kurniawan | Reuters
Microsoft on Tuesday said that it’s laying off 3% of employees across all levels, teams and geographies.
“We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC.
The company reported better-than-expected results, with $25.8 billion in quarterly net income, and an upbeat forecast in late April.
Microsoft had 228,000 employees worldwide at the end of June, meaning that the move will affect thousands of employees.
It’s likely Microsoft’s largest round of layoffs since the elimination of 10,000 roles in 2023. In January the company announced a small round of layoffs that were performance-based. These new job cuts are not related to performance, the spokesperson said.
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One objective is to reduce layers of management, the spokesperson said.
Last week cybersecurity software provider CrowdStrike announced it would lay off 5% of its workforce.
In January, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts that the company would make sales execution changes that led to lower growth than expected in Azure cloud revenue that wasn’t tied to artificial intelligence. Performance in AI cloud growth outdid internal projections.
“How do you really tweak the incentives, go-to-market?” Nadella said. “At a time of platform shifts, you kind of want to make sure you lean into even the new design wins, and you just don’t keep doing the stuff that you did in the previous generation.”
On Monday, Microsoft shares stopped trading at $449.26, the highest price so far this year. They closed at a record $467.56 last July.
Hinge Health co-founders Gabriel Mecklenburg (left) and Daniel Perez (right).
Courtesy of Hinge Health
Hinge Health said in a filing on Tuesday that it plans to raise up to $437 million in its upcoming initial public offering.
The digital physical therapy startup filed its initial prospectus in March, and it updated the document with an expected pricing range for its Class A common stock of $28 to $32 per share. Hinge said it plans to sell about 13.7 million shares in the offering.
Based on the number of Class A and Class B shares outstanding after the offering, the deal would value the company at $2.42 billion in the middle of the range, though that number could be higher on a fully diluted basis.
Hinge, founded in 2014, uses software to help patients treat acute musculoskeletal injuries, chronic pain and carry out post-surgery rehabilitation remotely. The company was co-founded by CEO Daniel Perez and Executive Chairman Gabriel Mecklenburg, who have both experienced personal struggles with physical rehabilitation.
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Three weeks after Hinge filed its initial prospectus, President Donald Trump announced a sweeping tariff policy that plunged U.S. markets into turmoil. That volatility has caused several companies, including online lender Klarna and ticket marketplace StubHub, to delay their long-awaited IPOs.
Hinge is forging ahead anyway, and a second digital health startup, virtual chronic care company Omada Health, filed to go public on Friday. Both IPOs will be closely watched by the digital health sector, which has been mostly devoid of public offerings since 2021.
During its first quarter, Hinge said that revenue climbed 50% to $123.8 million, up from $82.7 million during the same period last year. Hinge reported $117.3 million in revenue during its fourth quarter, up 44% from the same period in 2023.
The company plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “HNGE.”
Hinge has raised more than $1 billion from investors including Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management, and it boasted a $6.2 billion valuation as of October 2021, the last time the company raised outside funding. The biggest institutional shareholders are venture firms Insight Partners and Atomico, which own 19% and 15% of the stock, respectively, according to its prospectus.