Palantir’s Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar says the loudest warnings about artificial intelligence come from the people who benefit the most from the hype: Silicon Valley elites.
Appearing on Fox Business this week, Sankar pushed back against claims that AI will eliminate millions of jobs, calling it a “complete propaganda schtick coming out of Silicon Valley” from tech billionaires who want to exaggerate the technology’s power.
“It’s so powerful it might lead to mass unemployment. So powerful it may end humanity,” Sankar said sarcastically.
“And that’s just frankly not true. It’s not what you see at the front lines. What you see is an opportunity for American greatness.”
He added: “AI is a blue-collar revolution.”
Sanders Calls for Moratorium
Sankar’s remarks came in response to a video posted by Sen. Bernie Sanders, (I-VT), who said, “AI and robotics are the most transformative technologies in the history of humanity” and warned they could cause “massive unemployment.”
“If AI and robotics eliminate millions of jobs and create massive unemployment, how will people survive if they have no income?” Sanders asked.
He also proposed a pause in AI’s growth: “I will be pushing for a moratorium on the construction of data centers that are powering this unregulated sprint to develop and deploy AI. This moratorium will give democracy a chance to catch up.”
Sankar dismissed that idea, saying what’s actually happening is a revolution in productivity, especially for blue-collar workers.
More Jobs, Not Less
“The story that is really underreported is how AI is a blue-collar revolution,” Sankar said.
He gave examples from manufacturing and health care, noting that AI is helping real-world workers do more with less stress.
At one factory, he said, foremen now spend more time building parts instead of managing shift schedules. In hospitals, ICU nurses can spend more time with patients instead of filling out forms.
“We have a manufacturing customer that, because they were able to streamline their production planning with AI, they were able to add a third shift,” he said.
“Without that labor utilization being at a certain rate, it wasn’t profitable to hire more American workers. With it, more jobs are created.”
He also pointed to Panasonic Energy in Reno, Nevada. The company, which makes electric vehicle batteries, used AI to retrain former casino workers in just three months, a job that would normally require three years of training.
“This will have a dramatic effect on how we are able to hire, train, and deploy early talent,” he said.
Rethinking College
The rise of AI tools is also changing how people start businesses or prepare for careers. Sankar said AI puts powerful tools into the hands of everyday people, helping them turn ideas into reality without needing a college degree.
“It could lead and will lead to an explosion of new businesses,” host Dagen McDowell said. “Where you have an idea, and the tool will be there for you to execute on that idea.”
To address the changing landscape, Palantir launched a fellowship for high school seniors, where students learn job-ready skills on the job and get a well-rounded education from professors on nights and weekends.
“I think colleges are going to have to really rethink this,” Sankar said.
Focus on Value, Not Just Infrastructure
Sankar also warned that the U.S. is pouring too much money into AI infrastructure, like data centers and model development, without equal focus on how AI creates value for workers.
“We have invested a huge amount of capital in what I call the AI supply side,” he said.
“We need to invest more in the AI demand side. How do we drive economic value from these models? How do these models result in prosperity for the average American worker? That’s what we’re tirelessly focused on at Palantir.”
Sanders said the fear-driven narrative around AI mostly serves the interests of a few wealthy individuals.
“Do you believe that these guys, these multi-billionaires, are staying up nights worrying about what AI and robotics will do to the working families of our country and the world?” Sanders said. “Well, I don’t think so.”
The Real Impact of AI on American Workers
Despite growing calls from some lawmakers to slow down AI, Sankar believes the technology is already helping, not hurting, working-class Americans.
But critics like Sanders argue that without urgent regulation, AI could permanently reshape the labor market in ways that hurt those least able to adapt.
His concerns center on the possibility of millions of jobs disappearing before new safety nets or worker protections are put in place.
Sanders called for a moratorium on new data center construction to give “democracy a chance to catch up” and ensure that AI doesn’t serve only the interests of billionaires.
Sankar, however, maintains that instead of pausing AI progress, the focus should be on making sure it delivers widespread economic benefits.