Palantir CEO says US general asked him to build an “alien anti-gravity machine”
Beam me up, general.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp. Sean Rayford via Getty Images.
- Alex Karp says an unnamed US general asked Palantir to build an alien anti-gravity machine.
- Karp gave no branch, program, or evidence that the phrase was an official military request.
- He used the story to argue that Palantir engineers should challenge unrealistic customer demands.
- The remark drew skeptical reactions on Reddit’s UFO discussion forum and renewed attention on private defense contractors.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp has claimed that a US general once requested the company to build an “alien anti-gravity machine.”
Karp made the comments during his talk at AIPCon11 regarding engineers and government contracts.
And, as Palantir makes data integration and analytics to cooperate with military defense (as well as other fields), regular conversations with army personnel regularly happen between the tech giant and US forces.
However, Karp said the general understood the battlefield but “didn't know much about tech,” which created a clash between what was fantastic versus what was actually possible to build.
According to Karp, the unnamed general wanted Palantir to build him “this bullshit alien anti-gravity machine that also tells me I'm brilliant.”
Karp did not identify the general, the military branch, the program involved, or whether “alien anti-gravity machine” was the official description, in a rather theatrical speech, as has become his trademark style.
One of Palantir’s forward-deployed engineers reportedly pushed back directly, telling the general:
But you're not smart enough to know how dumb you are,Palantir CEO Alex Carp claimed one of his engineers told a US general.
Karp acknowledged that the engineer was not supposed to speak to a senior military figure that way, but argued that the confrontation was “really, really important” because Palantir’s engineers need to challenge customers when they are asking for the wrong thing.
At AIPCon 11, Palantir CEO Alex Karp breaks down why Palantir stands apart from the parasitic software industrial complex, what we refuse to build, and how Sovereign AI deepens our alignment with our partners. pic.twitter.com/6WGoA4nGt3
undefined Palantir (@PalantirTech) September 11, 2026
As such comments would normally stir up a debate about the US government or even private companies dabbling in reverse-engineering from alien ships, Karp's flamboyancy drew up more attention on the Reddit r/UFO forum.
“This guy is out of his mind” said one Redditor, while another commented that it was reminiscent of stand-up comedy.
As private companies continue to come under the spotlight in the UFO disclosure debate, perhaps a more grounded discussion with such senior figures would allow it to be taken more seriously in such instances.
