CLUB RECAP: America Loves AI and This is not Palantir Propaganda!
Palantir CTO reframes the AI narrative by describing it as a tool of the people.
The question Chief Technology Officer of Palantir Technologies, Shyam Sankar, sought to answer in the episode of The Shawn Ryan Show was “Are We Sleepwalking Into World War 3? We didn’t walk away with a clear answer, and if you’re anything like Ryan’s audience & commenters, you might be confused by why Ryan decided to have this conversation at all. In his role at Palantir, Sankar has a stake in making the general population more comfortable with AI. Much of this conversation—a stop on Sankar’s book tour—sounds at best like positive spin for Palantir and at worst like straight-up propaganda. Sankar was Palantir’s 13th employee long before the company became one of the most talked-about names in AI and defense tech. He helped transform it from a Peter Thiel-founded Silicon Valley startup into the global software and AI company it is today. With deep ties to the Trump administration, Palantir and its spokespeople are widely considered defining players in the tech right movement. Shawn Ryan is a former Navy Seal whose podcast has built a massive following around traditional family values, self-reliance, and mistrust of mainstream institutions. Guests on his show have included the former Navy SEAL whose shot killed Osama Bin Laden, President Donald Trump, and Erik Prince—the founder of the private military company Blackwater.
So, what did we hear?
AI is actually a tool that empowers workers and will not ruin your life.
Sankar emphasizes repeatedly that AI has the potential to empower everyday workers and help them do their jobs, rather than disempowering them (or eliminating their jobs completely). Sankar does not distinguish between himself, a billionaire, and the everyday American. His talking point is that we, as a collective, all stand to benefit from advances in technology. Positioning himself as an advocate for the ICU nurse and factory worker, Sankar makes a case for how Big Tech is not counting these people out, but rather welcoming them in, and offering a piece of the pie via AI. In his words, “You know, our problem is not ‘do we have talented enough people?’ It’s like, ‘are we allowing them to apply themselves? Are we taking the shackles off? Are we letting them run?’” He suggested that, if given the right tools, people on the proverbial ‘factory floor’ can do BIG THINGS, if we simply (in his words) “LET THEM COOK.”
If this is a listener’s first time hearing about AI, Sankar gives a convincing pitch: he says we - the common man - are in control. Through his lens, regulation of A places a shackle on the innovative forces of the American people. Of course, advances in AI do have the potential to benefit the everyday American worker, and Democratic messaging should acknowledge this, while pushing for regulation that will protect working families. Having productive conversations means allowing people to imagine how they think AI should be used and also making space for their concerns. No one wants to feel left out or left behind, so it’s helpful to understand how this major technological tool is being framed from the top down.
AI is Patriotic actually!
Patriotism is a core theme in Sankar’s messaging. “You know, no civilization can be great unless it believes in itself, unless it’s proud of itself. And I think no nation has more to be proud of than America.” For Sankar, to love America is to see it as a site of unlimited innovation and imagination; and this means committing fully to a future built around AI. In other words, Sankar is skillfully painting a picture where AI skeptics risk being labeled anti-American, unwilling to help our country reach its full potential.
Here, Sankar is appealing to a hunger for the American dream, the visionary, entrepreneurial spirit that means anyone has the ability to make it big. He is also speaking to American PRIDE, something the left has largely given up on. He references big moments of American history (World War II) and moments of American monoculture where we just had “good old fashioned entertainment (the 80s??). It can be hard to feel pride in a country that is responsible for enacting such violence both in our own country and abroad. Rejecting patriotism leaves a vacuum for more nefarious voices to shape opinion (one of the key theses of this club). There is power in Sankar’s message because he understands that people are eager to have something big to rally around.
An Alliance with Shawn Ryan Listeners.
Sankar, clearly a strategic thinker, understands the importance of building consensus around AI. Here, he’s tapping into the manosphere and “bro culture” to reframe the narrative. He channels themes of patriotism, self-determination and rational thinking to make AI feel like something that will directly fit into the lifestyle of the average Shawn Ryan listener. Describing AI as “Iron Man for the American worker” and glamorizing the importance of advancing the USA’s war technology taps into a traditional masculine feeling of power.
That doesn’t mean Ryan’s listeners were buying what Sankar is selling. Many comments expressed disappointment with Sankar as a guest and called out Ryan’s failure to challenge or question him. They don’t appreciate being told what to do or think by a tech billionaire so far removed from their own lived experiences. This tension between the tech right and traditional right-wing Shawn Ryan listeners presents a significant opportunity for people on the left. There is common ground to be found in criticism of AI and Big Tech.
Sankar failed to properly acknowledge very real economic anxiety and worries of being left behind by capitalism. This tells us that Ryan’s audience values authenticity and wants to ensure that the power of AI is not left only in the hands of the few. For us to connect with this audience, we should own our unwillingness to let the wool be pulled over our eyes and blindly accept the advances of Big Tech and AI. (In the words of Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico, “It’s not about left vs right but top vs bottom”).
How can the left-leaning coalition benefit from embracing hope and optimism?
Sankar claims that people’s fears about AI are overblown and pushes back against the belief that AI will take all of our jobs. Despite claiming a stake as the unbiased middle man, he proceeds to repeatedly highlight the “prosperity” and “bounty” that AI will inevitably provide. Further, he says “And rejecting nihilism is so important in our youth. You know, there’s a temptation to just say like, burn it all down..there’s a growing up phase where you go through that, but like, helping our youth exit that and understand that what we’ve built is worth fighting for is so critical.”
It’s … almost as if he’s on a book tour and trying to get us to forget that he is the Palantir guy, but try as he might, he cannot help let his AI fanatic flag fly.
To state the obvious, many people are struggling right now. Gas prices, groceries, and rent are all at an all time high. Thus, a shiny solution that promises to cure all problems has mass appeal. How can our coalition authentically speak to this without abandoning our positions and morals? One solution is to offer an alternative vision of the future, in which prosperity is possible through leveraging technology in a way that is human-centered and prioritizes key issues like affordability. Realism does not have to mean rejecting any vision of abundance. Hope is a powerful force, especially when it is built on real actions, policies and force for change; not faulty promises about a robot in shining armor coming to save the day.