- Palantir CEO Alex Karp argued for "reasonable guidelines" on artificial intelligence regulation.
- Karp noted the risks inherent in the nascent technology and said builders of harmful tech should be held liable for their actions, making a case for the move toward nationalizing AI labs.
- His comments come amid calls to slow down AI development.
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Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTwatch nowVIDEO1:1601:16Palantir CEO Alex Karp: AI needs to have 'reasonable guidelines'Squawk on the StreetPalantir CEO Alex Karp called for "reasonable guidelines" on artificial intelligence regulation and said nationalization may be needed as leaders deliberate over the technology's risks.
"You have to find a way to set reasonable guidelines that are enforced, but you can't do it," he told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Thursday. "The first line of defense is you're liable for your own actions."
Karp repeatedly referenced the risks and responsibilities tied to building the powerful technology, calling for nationalizing AI labs and both civil and criminal liabilities for tech builders "not being responsible."
"The view that I believe they have is, these businesses have to be nationalized because if you don't nationalize it every single one of my clients is going to sue," he said.
The tech executive's comments come as policymakers and tech leaders fiercely debate how to regulate sophisticated AI models after researchers warned of the technology's dire risks to humanity. Anthropic's Dario Amodei chimed in over the weekend, calling for a slowdown in the frontier.
- Labor crisis in U.S. chip manufacturing leaves Samsung, TSMC desperate for talent
- OpenAI reports 6 new instances of 'concerning model behavior' since March
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will attend state dinner for Trump-Xi summit in Washington
- Anthropic policy chief says AI companies can't be expected to operate on 'honor code'
The calls for AI regulation have brought together unlikely rivals Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. President Donald Trump, however, has pushed back, calling AI risks a "hoax" in several social media posts over the last few days.
Tech CEOs, including Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have also joined his side. Zuckerberg said on X this week that AI labs that fail to "focus on alignment will fall behind."
OpenAI on Wednesday disclosed six new cases of "unexpected or concerning" model behavior within the last six months. This comes in addition to the Hugging Face breach, which sparked debate over wider AI safety precautions.
"We need to get serious," Karp told CNBC on Thursday.
The AI alarm has also sparked a legislative push in Washington and renewed calls for oversight.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who has introduced AI safety legislation, told CNBC this week that the U.S. is on the "verge of losing control completely" and called for some form of "objective review" before releasing AI models.
Lawmakers have also pressed for implementing a so-called kill switch, which would force AI labs to build the capability to pull the plug on AI when the technology goes rogue. A bill has already been proposed in the House. Similar moves have faced backlash in the Senate.
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