The chief executive of American tech giant Palantir has declared that the United States, China and Israel are the only powers genuinely competing for global dominance in artificial intelligence.
In an interview published Friday with a senior Citigroup executive, Alex Karp said "the country that wins the AI race will determine what the future looks like." Asked which nations are in the running, Karp named just three: the United States, China and Israel.
The US currently leads China by roughly six months, Karp said, but the two powers bring different strengths: America's advantage lies in creativity, while China's is in scale and its ability to develop technology at lower cost.
Karp delivered sharp criticism of Europe, which he said has fallen behind and will be forced to depend on American or Chinese technology. He singled out Israel as an exception but did not elaborate on what gives it its unique standing.
Palantir, founded in 2003, is one of the world's leading defence-technology firms. The company specialises in analysing vast quantities of data and developing artificial-intelligence systems for militaries, intelligence agencies, governments and commercial clients.
Its customers include US defence and intelligence bodies and NATO. The company also maintains security cooperation with Israel, and Karp is known as a vocal supporter of the country.
