Palantir’s Karp predicts full AI nationalization in two years. He says Sanders’ 50% proposal will look moderate. Trump, Sanders, and Karp agree the shift is coming.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp says full nationalization of AI companies is coming, and that Senator Bernie Sanders’ proposal for 50% public ownership will soon look moderate. “In two years, they’re not going to think Bernie Sanders is progressive,” Karp told CNBC on Wednesday. “They’re going to be like, ‘Bernie Sanders, you only want 50%? What is this 50%?’”
Karp said he has spent six months privately warning top AI executives about the threat. “The momentum is on the side of people who want to nationalise them,” he said. He described himself as a “card-carrying progressive” and argued that the most important political decisions in the country will be driven by whether politicians understand AI.
The prediction lands in an increasingly crowded political space. Sanders has outlined his American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, which would impose a one-time 50% tax on stock, not profits, from companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI. Trump has said he plans to meet AI company leaders to discuss some form of public ownership, calling it a “partnership with the American public.” The two sides disagree on nearly everything else.
“The question is not whether AI will change the world, it will,” Sanders said in a video this month. “The question is who will own and control that future.” Trump said at the White House: “If we do that, the public will become very rich, the people in our country.”
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
Not everyone in Trump’s orbit agrees. David Sacks, the former White House AI and crypto czar, warned that Republicans who adopt the Sanders position will regret it. “Conservatives are right to fear where this is all headed but ought to think more carefully about how regulations they are flirting with now will be used against them the next time a Democrat administration is in power,” Sacks wrote.
Karp framed the debate differently. He said Americans are asking what will happen to them as AI eliminates jobs, “and the answers aren’t all good or bad.” He predicted the US would need to “retrain and retool” and said it is better positioned to do so than Europe. He did not address how Palantir, which sells AI to governments and militaries, would be affected by nationalization.
The bipartisan convergence on public ownership of AI is remarkable. A year ago, the idea of the US government taking equity stakes in AI companies would have been dismissed as fringe. Now a socialist senator, a Republican president, and a defence contractor CEO all agree it is likely. The disagreement is only about how much and how fast.
Whether any of it happens depends on legislation, which has not been introduced yet, and on whether AI companies voluntarily offer equity, as OpenAI has proposed through its Public Wealth Fund concept. But Karp’s prediction is the most extreme version yet from a sitting CEO: not 10%, not 50%, but full nationalization, and within two years.
The perfect robot mower for you is not nearly as fancy and feature-heavy as you may think. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it’s not the lawn mower, it’s all about the yard. A robot mower may be a market leader with top-of-the-line specs and still not be a good fit for your yard.
Here’s the great news: There’s a perfect robot mower for almost any yard. As someone who’s tested numerous types of robot lawn mowers, I’ve learned that many of the specs that brands market as groundbreaking are simply not vital for most shoppers. A mostly flat, fenced-in 0.10-acre yard doesn’t need the power that a hilly, sectioned, unfenced one-acre yard does.
A LiDAR, GPS, or wired boundary robot mower works for these yards. If you choose a wired boundary, you may have to bury wire around the flower beds, unless the borders are tall enough for the mower to avoid.
1. Don’t focus on: ‘AI-powered’ or other marketing buzzwords
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
Artificial intelligence (AI) has surpassed the popularity of acid-wash jeans in the 80s and Baby G watches in the early 2000s. And tech companies — including robot lawn mower manufacturers — are capitalizing on its appeal.
Most of these “AI-powered” or “intelligent mowing” terms are vague, geared to grab shoppers’ attention with buzzwords. That doesn’t mean that the robots don’t use AI to navigate, however.
The key is to find out how the robot uses AI to its benefit, and whether that will meet your AI expectations.
AI algorithms typically process data captured by the robot’s hardware to help it make quick decisions and adjustments. For example, a robot lawn mower may have a set of sensors and cameras to capture its surroundings. The robot’s processor then uses AI to convert that information into actionable data, so it knows whether to swerve to avoid an obstacle or slow down around a retaining wall.
Instead, look for: The navigation tech under (and on) the hood
Instead of AI and other buzzwords, you should focus on matching the robot lawn mower’s hardware and navigation system to your yard. This includes whether the robot uses RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) for positioning, and whether it features LiDAR, cameras, and sensors.
Then look at real user reviews to assess how accurately the robot mower maps and how well it performs around various types of obstacles.
There’s no blanket rule for robot mowers, but most do well with the following guidelines.
2. Don’t focus on: Premium extras
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
Skip the premium extras that don’t match your yard. You really don’t need the most advanced robot mower; you need the one that will best handle your lawn.
Most US homeowners have mostly flat lawns, simple rectangular layouts, minimal obstacles, and small yards. Yet some of the most popular mowers advertise features that don’t match this, and you don’t want to spend an extra few hundred dollars on advanced features that won’t deliver a noticeable difference in your yard.
Instead, look for: Only as much as you need
Do you have a mostly flat lawn with no fences and need a robot that can navigate to several sections separated by paths? Then you can skip AWD models and commit to superior mapping and navigation features, like multi-zone intelligence.
Similarly, if you have a yard with dense trees covering most of it, it’s safe to skip the RTK models and go for LiDAR or boundary wire options instead.
3. Don’t focus on: Flashy app features
The path lines created by the Mammotion Luba 2, as captured by our Bink Outdoor camera, is one flashy app feature I can’t quit.
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
Any dependable robot lawn mower requires an equally reliable mobile app to let you use it effectively. However, manufacturers market many flashy app features that end up being unnecessary for many users.
Don’t make app features the deciding factor unless it’s something you genuinely care about. Many users don’t rely on voice control to run their mowers and don’t mind using a separate app for their robot rather than integrating it into an existing home automation system.
A robot lawn mower with mediocre navigation and cutting performance can still have a flashy app — all while leaving behind missed patches or taking longer to finish mowing.
Instead, look for: The features you’ll actually use
Most robot mower users keep them running on a schedule to get the lawn-cutting chore off their minds. The majority of the most popular models offer basic features beyond scheduling, such as remote start and stop, basic mapping, automatic rain delay, and theft protection.
It’s easy to find robot lawn mowers with these features, but if you’re looking for anything beyond that, just be sure that the feature is worth it, especially if you’re paying extra for that model.
An example of a flashy app feature that is completely unnecessary, but I love having? The Mammotion’s pattern cutting. I can select the cutting pattern I want on the Mammotion app, whether I want lines or checkered, but I can also have the robot cut in custom patterns, like letters and numbers. I don’t care for mowed letters in my yard, but I like that it always has that freshly mowed checkered patterned with no effort from me.
4. Don’t focus on: Cutting system extras
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
The cutting width and system specs are important, as they can determine whether a robot can cover a given area in a day. However, most robot mowers use similar multiple-blade mulching systems.
Unlike traditional lawn mowers with large blades for aggressive cutting in a single pass, robot mowers typically feature a set of small blades that constantly spin. Because of this, robot mowers trim smaller amounts of grass with each pass than a traditional mower, but they also cut more frequently and leave behind smaller grass clippings that decompose naturally.
Because the robot mowers have a smaller, compounding cutting system, the real-world differences between the cutting systems from one brand to another are often smaller than you’d expect. Other issues, like poor navigation, will be glaringly obvious before small differences in blade design.
Instead, look for: Cutting width and yard size
The average US yard would benefit more from navigation quality, consistency, and connectivity than blade design. Instead, you should focus on matching the mower to your yard size.
The robot’s capacity is measured in how many acres it can cover in a day. Among other features, this is calculated based on your robot’s battery size and cutting width. Essentially, most users want a robot that can mow an entire yard in a day, so you can set it and forget it and always come home to a mowed yard. You get this by getting the appropriate robot for your yard size.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
