Tools & Platforms
Palantir CEO on why Silicon Valley over-hyped AI
I could say artificial intelligence is overhyped and businesses that have tried implementing it are finding it useless. I could also say AI is already transforming industries in profound ways. Both statements would be correct.
For a good illustration of why, look at Palantir, which had its annual AI conference on Thursday.
I was first introduced to the company in 2012, while covering white-collar crime at The Wall Street Journal. Palantir was working with federal prosecutors and the SEC to catch insider traders by finding unusual patterns in trading data that humans missed.
Nobody was calling it AI then, but it still seemed like magic. In reality, it was the result of painstaking work. Palantir had to send its “forward deployed engineers” in for each client to customize and tweak its software in what is often a trial-and-error saga that doesn’t always work.
When a breakthrough happened in large language models, it didn’t mean Palantir could simply throw out the software it had spent a couple of decades building. It meant it had a new tool that could, under the right circumstances, expand the capabilities of existing products.
If you believed tech company CEOs and AI doomers — that the technology had reached an inflection point and would soon surpass human intelligence — you might have thought Palantir was about to become irrelevant.
Instead, the opposite has happened. Palantir was well-positioned to quickly adopt large language models because it had already built a lot of the existing infrastructure or had the muscles to do it.
Companies that never would have hired Palantir thought they could shortcut the work and just use a glorified chatbot to get the same result.
“Silicon Valley totally effed up,” said Palantir CEO Alex Karp, speaking at the event, “in overhyping LLMs” and promising artificial intelligence was right around the corner.
But Karp isn’t exactly underhyping the technology, either.
“An LLM is a raw material that has to be processed, and the processing of the LLM will change America and change the world,” he said.
Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) is one of the best tech stocks to buy for the long term. At Citi’s 2025 Global TMT Conference on September 3, CFO David Obstler reiterated that the company is experiencing robust growth driven by AI-native companies.
The robust growth stems from the company’s increasing focus on strategic initiatives in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Consequently, AI initiatives have contributed to 10% of the company’s underlying growth. The growth has occurred in eight of the ten largest AI tool companies, which have leveraged their solutions.
In addition, the executive reiterated that Datadog is pursuing growth opportunities in international markets, with a focus on India and Brazil. As part of the expansion drive, Datadog is also integrating new technologies to maintain its competitive edge. Part of the strategy entails enhancing Cloud SIEM, service management, and product analytics.
Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) is a technology company that provides a cloud-based platform for observability and security. It also offers tools for infrastructure monitoring, application performance monitoring (APM), log management, real-user monitoring, and security.
While we acknowledge the potential of DDOG as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
READ NEXT: 12 Best Consumer Goods Stocks Billionaires Are Quietly Buying and Goldman Sachs Penny Stocks: Top 12 Stock Picks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Somalia and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement in Riyadh to cooperate on regulating artificial intelligence and space technology.
The deal was concluded during the Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR-25) by Mustafa Yasin Sheikh, head of Somalia’s National Communications Authority, and Haitham Al-Ohaly, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Communications, Space and Technology Commission.
Officials said the partnership will promote regulatory cooperation, knowledge sharing, and frameworks for responsible growth in AI and space sectors. The two nations also plan to explore infrastructure sharing and broader digital collaboration.
The GSR-25, co-hosted by the International Telecommunication Union and Saudi Arabia, brought together representatives from more than 190 countries to address global digital challenges.
The Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) joined government, academia, and major tech firms in Pretoria on Aug. 7 to discuss creating South Africa’s National Artificial Intelligence Network of Experts.
The forum, convened by Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Mondli Gungubele, will guide sectoral implementation of the country’s forthcoming AI policy. The Draft National AI Policy aims to help South Africa harness opportunities, mitigate risks, and maintain sovereign control over AI development while aligning with global standards.
Representatives included Microsoft SA, Meta, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Human Sciences Research Council, Research ICT Africa, the Central University of Technology, and the South African Local Government Association.
Prof. Anish Kurien of TUT stressed academia’s role in translating research into public policy, while counterparts highlighted AI’s potential to transform services, skills, and governance. Gungubele called AI “a general-purpose technology akin to electricity or the internet” with the power to drive inclusion across sectors.
Once adopted, South Africa will join Morocco, Mauritius, Rwanda, and Senegal as African countries with national AI strategies.
-
Business2 weeks agoThe Guardian view on Trump and the Fed: independence is no substitute for accountability | Editorial
-
Tools & Platforms1 month ago
Building Trust in Military AI Starts with Opening the Black Box – War on the Rocks
-
Ethics & Policy2 months agoSDAIA Supports Saudi Arabia’s Leadership in Shaping Global AI Ethics, Policy, and Research – وكالة الأنباء السعودية
-
Events & Conferences4 months agoJourney to 1000 models: Scaling Instagram’s recommendation system
-
Jobs & Careers2 months agoMumbai-based Perplexity Alternative Has 60k+ Users Without Funding
-
Podcasts & Talks2 months agoHappy 4th of July! 🎆 Made with Veo 3 in Gemini
-
Education2 months agoMacron says UK and France have duty to tackle illegal migration ‘with humanity, solidarity and firmness’ – UK politics live | Politics
-
Education2 months agoVEX Robotics launches AI-powered classroom robotics system
-
Podcasts & Talks2 months agoOpenAI 🤝 @teamganassi
-
Funding & Business2 months agoKayak and Expedia race to build AI travel agents that turn social posts into itineraries