Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar: Effective Altruism Is the Unseen Hand Behind AI Safety
beffjezos · x · 2026-09-15
Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar publishes a long-form piece in The Free Press, 'The Dangerous Ideology Behind the AI Warnings,' arguing effective altruism is the unseen force shaping AI safety discourse.
- Core claim: EA believes a small technocratic elite should decide how much technological progress everyone gets — and even how much access to 'the most important technology of the 21st century' the public deserves. He calls it an attempted coup.
- Context: The piece runs alongside columns by Niall Ferguson, Daniel Kokotajlo on rising AI catastrophe risk and Tyler Cowen on why slowing AI won't necessarily impede progress, positioning Sankar as the standard-bearer of the anti-safety-regulation camp.
- Amplification: Retweeted by e/acc figurehead Beff Jezos, fueling the latest round of the safety-vs-acceleration feud amid the AI 'whistleblower' news cycle.
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