In September 2023, Alex Karp was among the tech executives invited to a daylong US Senate summit on AI regulation convened by Chuck Schumer. The CEO of Palantir Technologies, a secretive data analytics giant, was given a place of prominence: seated next to Elon Musk. As the Tesla CEO made small talk during the press gaggle, Karp asked if he knew why they were seated together. Musk said he had no idea. “It’s because the shotgun blast radius will only take out the two of us,” Karp said with a