Transcription
The technology firm Palunteer has sparked outrage after publishing a 22-point manifesto envisioning a future dominated by autonomous weapons and deeper integration between government and big tech. The doctrine has fueled a broader debate about the growing power of these companies and their ties to authoritarian governments and militaries accused of war crimes.
Joining me to discuss this is Jiannis Varufacus, former finance minister of Greece and author of the book Technofudalism: What Killed Capitalism. Jiannis, it's a pleasure to have you on Upfront. Thank you very much for joining us.
>> Well, thank you. The pleasure is mine.
>> So, let's talk about this manifesto. You've said that Palanteer's recent manifesto openly declares that it will defend a ruling elite quote to the death, literally. What was your reaction to the manifesto?
Well, you know, I actually welcomed it because this is the very first time, at least to my knowledge, that uh a company that is uh um devoted to mass death, a weapons manufacturer, a software manufacturer that targets innocent people. Uh remember the uh the 180 school girls that were killed uh by a tomahawk missile at the beginning of this Iran war uh were targeted by Maven, a program sold by Palanteer. A company like that comes out with a manifesto. Uh it's a blueprint for a diabolical cowardly new world. So, you know, I welcome it because it is important to be able to read their own um blueprint for a world that, you know, then if we allow them to take over, control the world, well, it's our fault. It's humanity's fault. We have a duty of care to ourselves as a species uh to read through the lines between the lines and uh stop them.
Palanteer's AI systems were actually used to fuel Israel's genocide in Gaza and of course the US-Israeli war in Iran. Even here in the United States where I am, it is expanding its partnership and collaborating with uh US immigration and customs enforcement to spy or to surveil immigrants and actually deport them. So my question is, how do you see the relationship between these technologies and violence, genocide, and potentially fascism? What does that look like?
Well, if you read that manifesto, those 22 points, uh, which of course have been extracted from a whole book that was published by Alexander Kap, the CEO of Palanteer, what you'll find is, um, a very audacious attempt to essentially create another ideological um, justification for the return to weaponized racism. So if you look at the last few points amongst those 22, it is really very clear they're arguing in favor of a new hierarchy of cultures. Uh we've seen this before, haven't we? This is exactly what mine come um Adolf Hitler's textbook uh was advocating a hierarchy of races. They call it different cultures, but that's what they mean. Uh racial profiling, the idea that some cultures are superior to other cultures. So you have you know effectively the essence of the ideology of Nazism and of South African apartheid coming back as a mainstream ideology peddled by one of the companies whose uh meteoric rise in the stock exchanges have ensured that for instance you know did you know that Palanteer has a much higher capitalization the New York Stock Exchange than Lockheed Martin that produced the F-35s. So when you put the two together, the burgeoning um capitalization financial power of a company like Palanteer alongside its ideological um pursuit, its pursuit on the ideological opinion making um level dimension then you get an idea of the threat that our species is facing from companies like Palunteer.
>> So Palanteer has its own justifications, does it not? The manifesto states that US adversaries will not pause to debate about the merits of developing military technologies. They'll just proceed. So where are we now? Are we in the middle of an arms race?
>> Oh yes, of course. We've always been in the middle of the arms race. AI-driven drones, AI-driven weaponry uh is the next great threat. One, it is quite interesting that Palanteer themselves uh in one of these 22 points clearly state that um you know the nuclear arms race is over or actually arms nuclear arms deterrence is over. Uh and uh what they are advocating because they don't make nuclear weapons if they were making nuclear weapons they would sell they would want to sell more of them. So what they're saying is that um the next uh great conflict uh you know global conflict will be over AI-driven weaponry and they they may be right about that. Uh they are saying that um AI-driven robots are coming.
>> Uh what progressive people what rational sensible people should say is well maybe we should have an international agreement for limiting this new threat to humanity. What Palantry is saying is, "Oh, let's let's go all for it. Let's have more of them. Let's build those machines that kill humanity and then ask questions later." What I'm saying is that this is detrimental to the interest of our species.
>> Well, on that disconcerting note, uh let me thank you for joining us here on Upfront. Lots to think about. Jiannis Vuvakus, thank you.
>> Well, thank you.
>> That's our show, Upfront. We'll be back next week. Goodbye.