Palantir Bolsters Its Toolkit with an Artificial Intelligence Firm for Defense and Surveillance Purposes
Deepening its status as surveillance and combat forces' preferred AI provider, Palantir recently declared that it will incorporate Anthropic's Claude models into its arsenal of services catering to U.S. intelligence and military entities.
Founded by Peter Thiel and famously named after a problematic divination tool, Palantir has been actively securing contracts with the Pentagon and inking partnerships with other AI developers to house their offerings on Palantir's classified data-capable cloud infrastructure.
Its strong foothold in the military AI sector and ties with President-Elect Donald Trump have significantly boosted Palantir's stock price over the last year. In January, shares were trading around $16 each, but by October's end, their value had surged beyond $40. Post the presidential election, Palantir's stock got another boost, reaching approximately $55.
In May, Palantir secured a whopping $480 million contract to develop an AI-driven adversary recognition and strike system called Maven Smart System for the U.S. Army.
In August, it disclosed plans to provide Microsoft's large language models on its Palantir AI Platform to military and intelligence clients. Now, Anthropic is joining the equation.
As per a statement by Palantir's chief technology officer, Shyam Sankar, this partnership with Anthropic and AWS (Amazon Web Services) offers U.S. defense and intelligence communities the necessary tools for secure AI model deployment, thereby paving the way for new decisions advantages in their most critical missions.
Palantir revealed that Pentagon agencies will have access to Claude 3 and 3.5 models for handling massive volumes of intricate data promptly, optimizing document review, and making informed decisions in time-sensitive circumstances while safeguarding decision-making powers.
However, it remains uncertain which decisions these will involve and how directly they connect to lethal actions. While all other federal departments are obliged to disclose the uses of their respective AI systems publicly, the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies are excluded from these regulations, which could potentially be dismantled by the Trump administration.
In June, Anthropic confirmed that it would expand government agencies' access to its services and was prepared to grant certain agencies waivers from its standard usage policies. These waivers would allow Claude to be employed for legally sanctioned foreign intelligence analysis activities like combating human trafficking, detecting covert influence or sabotage campaigns, and forecasting potential military ventures.
However, Anthropic insisted on maintaining restrictions on the application of its tools for disinformation campaigns, weapon design, censorship, or malicious cyber operations.
As Palantir's partnership with Anthropic and AWS continues, the future of AI in military and intelligence sectors looks promising. With Palantir offering Anthropic's Claude models on its platform, these advanced AI tools will greatly enhance decision-making capabilities, especially in handling large volumes of complex data and time-sensitive situations.
This integration of Palantir's tech with Anthropic's artificial-intelligence will undoubtedly shape the future of surveillance and combat strategies, leveraging the power of technology and artificial intelligence.
