In a nine-point post on X, Palantir urges institutions to keep their data, own their model weights, and stop "tokenmaxxing." It reads like principle. It works like a sales pitch against the token-metered AI labs.

Palantir has a new enemy, and it is the way most of the AI industry makes money. Its nine-point manifesto tells institutions to hoard their data, own their model weights, and stop “tokenmaxxing.” It is a pitch dressed as a principle.

On Tuesday, Palantir posted its “thoughts on the importance of AI sovereignty” on X. The thread runs to nine numbered commandments, first flagged by Business Insider . Boiled down, they tell any company, government, or army the same thing. Whoever controls your data and your models controls your future. So do not hand either to someone else.

The language is grand. The first point declares that “your AI sovereignty dictates your institution’s future.” The second warns that “data retention is your treasure.” Point four is blunter: “Controlling your weights is controlling your fate.” Weights are the numbers that encode what a model has learned. Palantir casts them as an organisation’s crown jewels.

The sharpest barb targets the frontier labs. Palantir attacks “tokenmaxxing,” the habit of spending as much as possible on AI . It calls the practice “the addictive feeling of false progress.” Heavy token use, it argues, rewards throwaway scripts over solid software. Then comes the tell: “There is a reason why those selling tokens refuse to charge based on value.”

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That is a direct shot at OpenAI, Anthropic, and the rest. Their businesses run on metered, per-token pricing. Chief executive Alex Karp put it more crudely in a follow-up. “Why are they charging for tokens?” he asked, if the value is really there. The complaint has teeth. Enterprise AI bills keep climbing even as token prices fall.

A principle that happens to sell Palantir

It is worth remembering what Palantir sells. Its business is deploying software, and increasingly AI models, inside a customer’s own walls. That includes air-gapped systems cut off from the outside world. This week it also said it had won accreditation for NATO’s classified network.

It is packaging open models from Nvidia for government use under a “sovereign” banner too. A manifesto that tells institutions to own their stack is, conveniently, a manifesto for buying Palantir.

Karp has never hidden his contempt for rivals. He recently told CNBC that AI companies “don’t understand how unlikeable they are.” Their products, he added, “don’t actually work the way” customers expect. He has also predicted the nationalisation of AI firms . The sovereignty manifesto fits that worldview. It is combative, absolutist, and pitched at states and armies rather than startups.

The irony is that “sovereignty” is the same argument now used against Palantir. Europe has turned the word into policy, and the debate over who really controls the continent’s AI is raging in Brussels and national capitals. France’s foreign intelligence service dropped Palantir for a homegrown rival , and Germany’s military has kept it at arm’s length. For those governments, true sovereignty means not depending on a single American vendor either, however loudly it preaches independence.

Strip away the grandeur and Palantir’s core claim is reasonable. Data and model weights are real sources of advantage, and handing them to a third party carries real risk.

But a nine-point scripture about “alpha” and “the means of production” is also brand-building. It courts a moment when every Western institution suddenly worries about where its AI runs. Palantir did not invent that anxiety. It is just very good at selling the cure.

With expertise in digital marketing, product management, and branding & identity, Ana Maria Constantin develops strategies that resonate (show all) With expertise in digital marketing, product management, and branding & identity, Ana Maria Constantin develops strategies that resonate with our target audience in the software/SaaS industry. Collaboration and teamwork are paramount to her, as she loves empowering her colleagues to achieve outstanding results and unlock their full potential.