• In his new book, Palantir CEO Alex Karp will explore how "Silicon Valley has lost its way."
• Big Tech needs to realign with the US government to address pressing issues like AI, he says.
• Karp says the progressive left has impeded this work in recent years.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp said Silicon Valley has lost its way under the spell of the progressive left — and has spent its time on inconsequential things like social media instead of collaborating with the US government on game-changing advancements.

It's time for that to change, Karp will argue in his coming book, "The Technological Republic." He sat down in an interview this week to unpack his thoughts on the incoming Trump administration — and what needs to change in Big Tech.

Speaking with investor Stanley Druckenmiller to promote the book, Karp recounted how, in 2018, Google employees protested the tech giant's involvement with Project Maven, which was a collaboration with the Department of Defense.

Amid outcry, Google opted not to renew its contract. (Palantir is among the companies now working on the project.)

It's become unpopular in some quarters of the tech world for companies to support the US government in recent years, Karp contended. But a shift may be afoot, he said.

"The Valley has realized you just cannot placate the anti-intellectual left" — a trend that's accelerated in the wake of October 7, he said. "They'll destroy your business."

Karp's book will argue that the tech sector must work with the government to address pressing issues — namely, prevailing in the AI arms race.

At the same time, Karp expressed optimism about "the level of talent that is coming in to fix our government," nodding to the incoming Trump administration.

He said American society is at a crisis point, with many feeling certain "instruments of measurement" — schools, borders, and intergovernmental government organizations like the United Nations — "have been corroded." On the other side of the aisle, Karp said, people are "worn out."

Palantir did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

In the interview, Karp joked that Palantir was "a rare cult with no sex and very little drugs — and we're not poisoning anyone."

• Palantir CEO Alex Karp joked the software giant was like a "cult" — minus the sex and drugs.
• He says Palantirians tend to be "snobby" about their intellect and aren't easily persuaded by orders.
• "My success has been getting Palantirians to believe that my ideas are theirs," Karp says.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp acknowledged that working at the company can feel a bit like a "cult. Employees share a like-minded drive that can occasionally raise eyebrows from those outside, he said.

"It's a rare cult with no sex and very little drugs — and we're not poisoning anyone," he joked during an interview with investor Stanley Druckenmiller. Karp spoke about his coming book, "The Technological Republic."

Cofounder Peter Thiel is an "artist" when it comes to appointing leaders, Karp said, and attracting top engineering talent has always been the company's strong suit.

The founding team started by calling their smartest friends, and the talent pool quickly compounded. Early employees tended to be "very high-mission, very high rigor, very low pay, very high-equity — we lived together," Karp said. "It just was a really cool vibe, and there was nothing like it."

The company was "hated" by the outside venture capital world, Karp said — but it was a welcome dynamic that reminded him of his childhood. Karp's parents were unusual, but it was a happy home. (He's previously described them as hippies who took him to protests.) And if outsiders considered his parents "freaks," Karp said, that just made them "even happier."

Today, Palantirians are "snobby" when it comes to intellect — though not about where they went to school, Karp said. They're also "not convinced by orders." The culture is one of low authority that prizes self-starters.

"My success has been getting Palantirians to believe that my ideas are theirs," Karp said, adding that lateral hiring can be difficult at the company, where respect is hard-earned.

It's also a relatively small team of 3,600 employees, and Karp doesn't harbor ambitions of massively scaling the head count — thanks in no small part to AI, which has meant "you can power whole industries with 100 people," he said.

Palantir did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Palantir has had an explosive year, with its stock up around 350% so far this year. In a recent earnings call, Karp attributed the company's growth to an AI revolution and said its success had silenced longtime critics.