Palantir CEO Alex Karp on Monday once again warned that AI frontier labs are too untrustworthy for enterprises.

The CEO, who famously studied philosophy and earned a PhD in social theory, implied in Palantir’s quarterly shareholder letter that these were the kinds of capitalists who gave rise to Marxist socialism.

“There are Marxist overtones and undertones to our business,” he wrote in a letter to shareholders about Palantir’s outstanding quarter he wrote. “Others, including many of those building large language models, intend, knowingly or otherwise, to capture the means of production of their purported partners.”

To be clear, AI labs have hardly cornered Palantir out of the market. Quite the opposite. The skyrocketing use of AI helped Palantir achieve record-breaking results. For its second quarter, the company reported $1.9 billion in revenue, up 93% over the year-ago quarter, and $1.1 billion in profit, “more profit in a single quarter than we did in total revenue in the same period the year before,” he wrote.

During the quarterly conference call with Wall Street analysts, he explained his analogy further, relying heavily on a sort of “tech bro patriot” jargon common among defense tech companies. (Palantir’s senior leadership is entirely male.)

He asked on the call, if companies are going “to buy into a future” where your job helps your “adversaries win, and everybody who does win is a small, tiny group of people living in a tiny place that somehow believe because they eat vegetables and they don’t support war fighters that they deserve to have the total means of production of this country? And the rest of us should just sit by it back and absorb the cost of that revolution, which we’re paying for.”

Palantir, in contrast, serves model-agnostic AI and analysis software to governments and enterprises, and allows organizations to control their data as well as their AI “exhaust,” aka, their prompts, orchestration, context.

“How are we paying for it? In the enterprise context, people sign up for token self pleasurings… at real cost like other forms of self pleasure,” he said. “You are paying for the right for them to migrate your IP, your know-how, your expertise to their model, so that they can build a competitive business that doesn’t require your business or people. And why are they doing it? It’s actually being done for what they believe are moral reasons. They are superior to you. They deserve to colonize your enterprise.”

Jarring language aside, he is making an underlying point that is increasingly being repeated elsewhere, including from the likes of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

This theory points to the significant list of companies that partnered or paid for Anthropic and OpenAI while the AI labs launched similar businesses ranging from design tools to, healthcare operations, legal, even drug discovery.

The truth is, none of these companies are economic villains or heroes — anymore than other for-profit companies are. AI is growing so quickly, the market changing so rapidly, there is clearly room for all, Palantir’s results show.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel sidestepped investors’ questions about pre-order demand for the company’s long-awaited Specs smart glasses during Monday’s earnings call, just weeks before the device’s September launch event.

“What we’re hearing from folks is really that they want to try Specs,” Spiegel told investors. “It’s obviously a high consideration purchase at $2,195. Obviously, developers and folks who are familiar with the platform really understand it and understand the technical leaps we’ve made with with this generation. I think for the broader public and consumers, it’s going to be really important for folks to go hands-on. Our upcoming launch event will be an important sort of starting point for that consumer-oriented journey.”

The company unveiled Specs in June after spending more than a decade developing the device. The wearable’s $2,195 price tag is significantly higher than most Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, which start at around $350, but lower than Apple’s Vision Pro, which starts at $3,500.

Investors also pressed Spiegel on why he believes Snap’s strategy is financially viable for a company of its size, why it chose to go it alone rather than partner with another company, and what gives him confidence that the company can compete with Apple, Meta, and Alphabet.

Spiegel responded that Snap believes the long-term opportunity to develop the next computing platform is “enormous.”

“I think what what some folks maybe don’t understand yet, especially because Specs are so new and we’re really the first mover in this this category, is how difficult the product is to to execute from a technical perspective,” Spiegel said. “When we started innovating in the social space, we were a late entrant. So, most of the the apps at the time, whether it was Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, were already in existence, and we had to really innovate to continue to grow. What’s so unique about this opportunity for us is really that we’re a first mover, and that really plays to our strengths as an innovator.”

When asked about product-market fit, Spiegel said it will likely be closer to the end of the decade before the company sees mass-market consumer adoption.

“I think things, for example, like weight and cost are going to have to come down to see you know unit volumes really meaningfully pick up.” But we do have, I think, a real advantage here in that developers have been building on the Specs platform now for several years.”

Apple is exploring ways to turn future smart glasses and headsets into health and fitness devices, building on the company’s growing focus on wearables. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company wants its Vision Products Group to develop health experiences that combine spatial computing, sensors and consumer wellness.

The plan does not appear ready for Apple’s first-generation smart glasses, which are expected to focus on core features before gaining more advanced health capabilities in later versions.

Apple previously explored a similar approach with the Vision Pro headset. The company reportedly considered a version of Apple Fitness+ designed for the device, allowing users to follow workouts while the headset tracked body movements and analyzed exercise performance. However, the idea was abandoned because of technical challenges and the headset’s weight, according to Bloomberg.

Smart glasses offer a different opportunity because they are designed to be worn more naturally throughout the day. Apple is reportedly looking at using sensors built into the glasses to collect movement and health data.

A Bloomberg report said Apple’s Vision Products Group is hiring a “strategic product design leader” to “define the future of health, well-being and fitness experiences across vision products.” The role also involves finding opportunities at the intersection of “spatial computing, wearables, consumer health and human behavior.”

The hiring signals that Apple sees health as a long-term part of its glasses strategy rather than just an experimental feature.

How Apple could expand its wearable health ecosystem

Apple already has a health ecosystem spread across products such as the Apple Watch and AirPods. Adding smart glasses could give the company another way to collect health-related information and provide users with hands-free guidance.

Possible future uses could include workout assistance, movement analysis and fitness coaching. Cameras and sensors could allow the glasses to understand a user’s activity and provide feedback, although the exact features remain unclear.

This approach could help Apple compete in a growing smart glasses market where companies are adding artificial intelligence and wearable features. However, Apple will need to balance useful sensing capabilities with privacy concerns surrounding camera-equipped eyewear.

Must-read Apple coverage

Privacy and technical challenges remain

Smart glasses face challenges that traditional wearables do not. Cameras mounted on glasses can raise concerns about when users are recording or collecting information about people nearby.

Apple has reportedly been considering ways to address those concerns, including limiting how cameras are used. But reducing camera functionality could also limit some of the advanced AI and fitness features that make smart glasses attractive.

The company also needs to solve practical issues around battery life, sensor accuracy and comfort. Health tracking requires devices that people are willing to wear regularly, not just occasionally.

Apple’s bigger wearable strategy

Apple’s move into health-focused smart glasses suggests the company sees wearables as more than accessories. The long-term goal appears to be creating a broader ecosystem where devices work together to support communication, fitness and personal health.

The challenge will be proving that smart glasses can offer something users cannot already get from an Apple Watch or AirPods. If Apple succeeds, glasses could become a new category of health technology. If the benefits are unclear, consumers may see them as another expensive device looking for a purpose.

Also read: Discover five ways the Apple Watch uses health and fitness features to help users monitor their well-being.