Palantir CEO Alex Karp has taken aim at the business models of leading artificial intelligence companies, arguing that the way AI is priced and controlled deserves more scrutiny than the race to build ever-smarter systems.
According to NDTV Profit, Karp criticized the token pricing charged by Anthropic and OpenAI, saying "something has gone completely wrong." Token pricing is the standard way AI providers bill customers — companies pay based on the volume of text their AI systems process, measured in small units called tokens. Karp's comment suggests he sees a problem with how those costs are structured.
His broader concern goes beyond price. According to Moneycontrol, Karp argued that AI's next battle will be over ownership, not intelligence. He questioned a model in which businesses lean on outside AI providers while potentially handing over control of their most valuable assets — their intellectual property and internal business knowledge — to those same providers.
The framing matters because Palantir sells software that helps large organizations and governments analyze their own data. Karp's position aligns with a pitch that enterprises should retain control of their information rather than route it through external AI vendors.
The remarks add a prominent voice to a growing debate over who ultimately benefits as companies pour money into AI tools. If enterprises come to view external providers as both expensive and a threat to their proprietary knowledge, it could reshape how businesses decide to buy, build, or control the AI systems they increasingly depend on.