CNBC Television · Sep 29, 2026
With Alex Karp, CEO and co-founder of Palantir Technologies
Alex Karp grabbed a CNBC reporter's microphone outside the White House and used it to mock-interview Microsoft's Satya Nadella rather than answer a question himself.
Every other chief executive walking in for President Trump's AI lunch that day gave reporters nothing. Karp gave them a routine, then a jab at the press, and, according to CNBC's anchor, a claim about who should own the liability when AI goes wrong.
"What do you think I am, the village idiot?" — Alex Karp
Karp co-founded Palantir Technologies in 2003 and has run it as chief executive ever since, building it into one of the US government's largest AI and data-analytics contractors.
The full segment is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 3 moments that matter.
Key Takeaways
Karp grabbed a CNBC reporter's microphone to mock-interview Microsoft's Satya Nadella rather than answer questions himself
He told Nadella to explain "how AI works on the battlefield," calling it "a question he'll answer"
Karp refused to give reporters his message to the president, calling the question one only "the village idiot" would need to ask
Karp has told CNBC that AI companies want to be nationalized, according to the network's anchor, because of their own liability exposure
President Trump repeated that he wants no AI safety slowdown, and CNBC's reporter described the administration's posture as "full gas on the gas pedal"
Anthropic's S-1 filing that same day raised what the reporter called existential concerns for all of humanity, which he said he'd never seen in a filing before
Nadella and AMD's Lisa Su both declined to answer substantively, giving reporters only pleasantries on their way into the lunch
1. Karp Grabs the Mic
CNBC's Eamon Javers was working the arrivals line outside the White House southwest gate, catching chief executives on their way in to an AI lunch with President Trump. He put a question to Microsoft's Satya Nadella first.
Karp took the microphone out of Javers's hands and put the question to Nadella himself
"Satya, tell me about how AI works on the battlefield. That's a question he'll answer." — Alex Karp
Nadella did not answer. Javers, reporting live afterward, said Karp "took my microphone out of my hands and began interviewing people on the street here," and that no source had ever done that to him before.
"I feel like I need to kick in some of my salary for today." — Reporter, CNBC Television
