What Palantir Sees

Who’s afraid of Palantir? The company’s chief technology officer, Shyam Sankar, joins Ross Douthat for a conversation about what the shadowy company actually does — and the thorny political and ethical questions it faces. They also discuss the new era of collaboration between Silicon Valley and the military, a personal project for Sankar, who was recently commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.

• 01:37 - So, what does Palantir do?
• 07:45 - The “kill chain”
• 13:27 - The tech company’s relationship with I.C.E.
• 18:09 - What happens to privacy?
• 25:30 - Palantir and Israel
• 27:22 - Sankar’s personal military journey
• 34:43 - Silicon Valley’s militarization
• 43:09 - TITAN, A.I. and the “Iron Man” suit

(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)

Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.