Palantir's Karp bashes OpenAI, Anthropic token model: 'Something has gone completely wrong'
Palantir’s Karp bashes OpenAI, Anthropic token model: ‘Something has gone completely wrong’
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Palantir’s Karp bashes OpenAI, Anthropic token model: ‘Something has gone completely wrong’
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Palantir’s Karp bashes OpenAI, Anthropic token model: ‘Something has gone completely wrong’
Published Wed, Jul 1 2026 10:25 AM EDT Updated Wed, Jul 1 2026 4:02 PM EDT
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Key Points
- CEO Alex Karp blasted the token structure used by Anthropic and OpenAI
- Karp told CNBC that Palantir and Nvidia’s open model is the solution for enterprises and governments seeking to own their data.
- Karp added that CEOs are frustrated by skyrocketing AI token costs, fueling interest in pivoting away from the closed models.
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!Image 11: Palantir CEO Alex Karp says 'something has gone completely wrong' with how AI is sold
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VIDEO 7:50 07:50
Palantir CEO Alex Karp says ‘something has gone completely wrong’ with how AI is sold
Palantir CEO Alex Karp on Wednesday criticized the token model used by U.S. artificial intelligence labs Anthropic and OpenAI as costs skyrocket.
“I’m not throwing shade at them, but something has gone completely wrong,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The basic view among enterprises in this country is I’m going to chillax and waste my time with tokens.”
As AI costs surge, and new models prove pricier than previous iterations, enterprises are shifting from a mindset of so-called tokenmaxxing in favor of a return on investment.
That setup is prompting some enterprises to adopt open-weight models, capable of performing similar tasks at a fraction of the price. Chinese models are also accelerating capabilities, raising concerns that the AI rival could soon catch up to U.S. frontier labs.
Shares of the AI software company climbed 8% on Wednesday.
Read more CNBC tech news
- Anthropic says Trump admin has lifted export controls on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5
- OpenAI, Anthropic backer MGX raises one of the biggest AI funds ever as it closes at $49 billion
- Employers who laid off workers citing AI are already starting to regret it
- Record chip rally adds $2 trillion in combined value to Micron, Intel and AMD in second quarter
Karp told CNBC that the industry should not underestimate the speed at which China is making progress in building AI models.
In this environment, many businesses are also shifting from using far-reaching AI models to building and training their own, more efficient proprietary tools.
Earlier this week, Palantir announced an expanded partnership with Nvidia to use the chipmaking giant’s AI tools to build custom models for U.S. government agencies.
Karp views open-weight models as a potential solution for CEOs frustrated by AI labs.
Ahead of Karp’s interview, Palantir on Tuesday released a 9-point manifesto on the importance of “AI sovereignty” onsocial media platform X. The post criticized tokenmaxxing as a business model and encouraged companies to maintain ownership of their data.
“What aligns me with Nvidia, and I think is what the technical customers want, which is control over their compute, their models, their data stack and their alpha,” Karp said. “They want to know they own the means of production. It’s not being transferred to someone else.”
_— CNBC’s Seema Mody contributed to this story._
VIDEO 19:33 19:33
Watch CNBC’s full interview with Palantir CEO Alex Karp
Related
1. [](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/30/anthropic-launches-ai-drug-discovery-program-claude-science.html)Anthropic launches AI drug discovery program, joining tech giants in betting on healthcare
2. AWS puts $1 billion into new AI unit to embed engineers with customers, joining growing wave
3. Palo Alto, CrowdStrike both have best quarter ever as AI threats bolster cyber demand
4. Trump administration’s AI crackdown opens door for China to close gap
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