(Unit City)
Blake Masters is again running for office. This time, instead of the Senate, he’s trying to find himself a seat in the House of Representatives. As a devout paranoid, I’m naturally skeptical of everything, yet during Blake’s last electoral bid, my eyes and ears opened wider than usual once I began reading up on Blake’s mentor and benefactor, Peter Thiel. Thiel is the founder of PayPal and the cofounder of Palantir. Started in 2003, their specialty is in analyzing vast troves of data (like that which the government steals from our private communications). Such skills proved useful in the War on Terrorism.
Alex Karp, Thiel’s longtime lefty friend, is the cofounder of Palantir. To date, Thiel is still Chairman of the Board, while Karp serves as CEO as well the public face of the company. (Thiel is notoriously shy) When the War broke out, Karp flew out to the Ukraine and offered whatever help he could. What, I asked everyone in 2022, would happen if another bill came up regarding more “aid” to the embattled nation? How would the Arizona candidate cast his vote? Shouldn’t we, as voters and taxpayers, know these things?
Now the February issue of Time Magazine brings us something of an update. It tells us that Karp’s stated reason for helping Ukraine is to “defend the West,” and to “scare the fuck out of our enemies.” Palantir, we learn, is very philanthropic, as their work in that nation is being done completely free of charge. And what they’re doing is helping to turn Ukraine into an “AI war lab,” so reads the headline of the Time’s piece. So maybe Karp has other reasons.
Mykhailo Fedorov holds a snazzy position as Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation. The country, says Fedorov, is “the best test ground for the newest tech.” That, he adds, is their “big mission” – to turn the Ukraine into the “world’s tech R&D lab.” Former Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, General Milley, said this was “the most significant fundamental change in the character of war ever recorded in history.” A good deal of this research is happening right outside of Kyiv, in a campus-sized area called “Unit City.” This was once an old Soviet factory that made rip-off German motorcycles. Now, it’s the “main innovation hub in Europe.”
Don’t count on Biden giving a farewell address warning about the “permanent AI tech defense industry.” He’s no Eisenhower.
As for Palantir, they’ve been analyzing data taken from satellite imagery, drones, and reports from soldiers on the ground. Their software can do in a few clicks what before would have taken hundreds of men. They then give their results to the commanders, allowing for more options. Karp brags that they’re responsible for most of the targeting: a “kill chain,” as he calls it.
And Palantir isn’t the only tech company working over there. Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Starlink, and Clearview AI have all set up shop. By February 2023, they were getting so many offers, that Ukrainian officials made an open invitation to the world. This was when Fedorov and his deputy, Alex Bornyakov, started a digital platform called Brave 1. (Get it? They’re the brave ones). There, “defense-tech companies, startups, and ordinary Ukrainians can pitch their products,” so reads the Times report. Since then, they have received more than eleven-hundred submissions.
Of all these companies, the one that incites the greatest chills, is Clearview AI, which has been described as Ukraine’s “secret weapon.” Their specialty is facial recognition. Here, I think of the movie Minority Report, or – in a world that’s becoming ever-less “real” – the dictatorial state of China, which has ticking cameras literally everywhere, never failing to keep the authorities informed. As for this war, Clearview AI has helped to identify more than 230,000 Russians, as well as traitors to the Ukrainian cause. The company’s CEO, Ton-That, says their software is a “technology that shines and only really is appreciated in times of crisis.” Those last three words should be strongly emphasized.
Even if Ukraine loses, the technocrats win. Even as Kyiv would fall, the tech giants will stand up and march out, taking their new toys with them. Where they go with their improved toys is any paranoid’s guess. Likely some place in the midst of a crisis.