A Peek into the Thiel-iverse
February 26, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
I don’t pay much attention to Palantir. After I saw the firm run an ad in the Wall Street Journal explaining that it was an AI company, I dropped it from my intelware watch list. Palantir, I concluded, was an open source surfing custom software shop. It was essentially building solutions for customers. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, but I prefer outfits like Octostar who just sell a license. The customer is ready to roll after a short training course.
I read two items I found interesting. The link between the two is Peter Thiel, not the companies themselves. Let’s look briefly at these two items. Please, read each in its original form and assemble your own opinion about the messages contained in each “real” news item.
Thanks, Venice.ai. Good enough.
The first article is in the UK newspaper The Telegraph. Its story is “HS Contractor Palantir Will Suffer $200bn Wipeout, Says Big Short Investor.” The write up reports, “Michael Burry accuses ‘easily replaceable’ tech firm of overplaying its AI credentials.”
I found this snippet interesting:
Under its latest contract with the NHS, Palantir was tasked with joining up existing NHS data in a bid to speed up diagnosis and reduce waiting times and hospital stays. However, official figures this week showed that A&E trolley waits have risen to their worst on record – with more NHS patients than ever facing 12-hour delays last month.
Not unusual. Years ago I had a client with a juicy NHS contract. The client’s software did a couple of things, but to do heavy lifting such as that required by the NHS, custom code had to be written. My client could not meet the requirement and its contract was not renewed. Was it the NHS’ fault? Was my client responsible? I have no idea. But custom software required for a product that does a couple of things often presents challenges. Palantir is now tackling the NHS, and it has an alleged US$200 billion to help out the NHS with some fundamental issues.
He [an expert named Michael Burry] said its chief executive, Alex Karp, had initially been “blindsided by ChatGPT” and other large language models, only then to decide that he could “spin this as Palantir is AI”. Mr Burry said: “Like Trump, Karp figures bluster has gotten him pretty far, and so will continue in that mode.” Palantir has previously hit back against Mr Burry’s criticism. In late 2025, Mr Karp branded the investor “bats–t crazy” for predicting such sharp falls in its stock.
Yep, professional.
The second article is “Discord Distances Itself From Age Verification Firm After Ties To Palantir’s Peter Thiel Surface.” This write up states:
Started in 2018, Persona develops identity detection and anti-fraud technologies. They’ve been having an absolute field day since the OSA, being implemented to verify user ID across Reddit and Roblox. One sticking point, however, is who’s backing the company: Peter Thiel, the cofounder of ICE-approved surveillance firm Palantir.
The write up points out:
Thiel, of course, is known for many things. A co-founder of PayPal, Thiel is now more closely affiliated with Palantir, a company specializing in digital surveillance and exploiting user information.
My reaction to the Thiel thread linking these two items is that:
- Aggressive marketing is working for Palantir
- Mr. Thiel has a knack for spotting “in between” opportunities; that is, pools of high value information and customers like governments
- Some people like Mr. Burry and the author of the Discord article are nervous about the companies and, I surmise, Mr. Thiel.
Is it possible that Mr. Thiel and other influential Silicon Valley professionals want to use their technology to create an on ramp for themselves and their companies to gain not just more money but direct influence over the government and the citizens of a country?
A partial answer might be found in the public statements of thinkers like Nick Land, Patrick Deneen, and Curtis Yarvin. The touchstone old timer may be René Girard or Leo Strauss. Some of the ideas might shed light on Mr. Thiel’s investments, his support of the Palantir approach to marketing, and the funding of outfits like Persona.
Getting fascinated with an individual chess piece is necessary, but the game is won by trying to figure out the strategy of the player. That’s why I don’t follow Palantir. It is the bigger picture into which Palantir fits that matters.
Stephen E Arnold, February 26, 2026
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