Palantir CEO Alex Karp has warned that Western citizens “will have far fewer rights if America is not in the lead” of the AI race. Speaking to Axios, the tech boss suggested that should China pull away from America in developing artificial intelligence, “the primary risk is losing privacy.”

Karp argued that “the chance of world survival goes up as America becomes stronger and more dominant” in the AI race, acknowledging that advanced software poses real dangers to humanity. One of these is the possibility of “social instability”, which he explained could manifest into “pretty crazy populist movements”. He went on to state that Europe was “abysmal” when it came to developing AI and that the continent “has given up on technology”, claiming the Gulf states are making better progress.

The Palantir CEO has previously claimed the possibilities for AI are “dangerous”, and earlier this year he co-authored a book, The Technological Republic, suggesting that the threat posed to Western security by China, Russia and Iran would be enhanced by the technology.

Karp has a long history of political intervention. In the past, he has described himself as a socialist and a progressive but distanced himself from the label of “woke”. On Monday, he made headlines when he sent a letter to Palantir shareholders outlining the dangers of “proclaiming the equality of all cultures and cultural values” and claiming that it was the “first company to be completely anti-woke”. Having once been highly critical of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, he has softened his stance on the man he now describes as a “peace president”. Karp added last month that he’s “really supportive” of Trump’s border and national security policies.

Palantir now has the eighth-highest market cap of any AI company, with clients including Morgan Stanley, and is used by the US Department of Defense. In the Axios interview, Karp also discussed surveillance, suggesting a certain level of tracking is needed to stop a suspected terrorist or paedophile. However, “if you expand that to normal citizens, that is surveillance of the kind that no one wants.”