Alex Karp, the CEO of controversial tech company Palantir, raised eyebrows during a recent live interview with the New York Times. In a viral video of the discussion, Karp defended his company to the Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin, gesturing dramatically with his arms, bouncing up and down on his chair, and struggling to make his point.
Palantir’s X account shared the video on Sunday morning and announced Karp is launching The Neurodivergent Fellowship: “If you find yourself relating to [Karp] in this video — unable to sit still, or thinking faster than you can speak — we encourage you to apply.”
Palantir announced Karp himself would conduct final interviews for the fellowship. In a reply to the first message on X, the company included an application link to the fellowship, which is available in Palantir’s New York City and Washington, D.C. offices.
“The current LLM tech landscape positions [neurodivergent people] to dominate,” according to the application. “Pattern recognition. Non-linear thinking. Hyperfocus. The cognitive traits that make the neurodivergent different are precisely what make them exceptional in an AI-driven world.”
Palantir, a data and analytics company co-founded by conservative “kingmaker” Peter Thiel, was quick to argue that the fellowship is not a DEI initiative.
“Palantir is launching the Neurodivergent Fellowship as a recruitment pathway for exceptional neurodivergent talent,” according to the application, “This is not a diversity initiative. We believe neurodivergent individuals will have a competitive advantage as elite builders of the next technological era, and we’re hiring accordingly for all roles.”
Those are personality disorders, not forms of neurodivergence.
Wtf is neurodivergence if not a divergence from normal personality and thinking?
They are different things.
Neurodivergent people process information differently but have all the correct parts to process. They may interact with the world in slightly different ways but do not have a personality DEFECT.
People who are narcissists are missing a primary component: empathy for other humans. Their minds are fundamentally different than neurotypical and neurodivergent people.
Are you making this up?
I’m going by the parts of the words: neuro meaning of the mind/brain and divergent meaning deviating from normal. I don’t see why “neurodivergent” wouldn’t include all of ADHD, autism, personality disorders, and mental illness as these are all brain differences.
Neurodivergent includes all those categories except the disorders or illnesses. Here’s why:
Things like psychopathy are caused by structural differences in the brain that make sufferers incapable of experiencing the same set of emotions as most people. Many negative behaviors are caused by lack of inhibition or empathy for others.
People with autism and adhd process information differently and respond to the world differently as a result. In severe cases this can lead to an inability to engage but will generally result more in inappropriate engagement.
Behavioral health conditions are a mix of psychological and neurological issues that require a wide variety of interventions.
These are very different things.
Thank you for your explanatory responses. I decided to look up an authoritative definition for myself. According to what I found, it isn’t a medical term and doesn’t have a medical definition, so means whatever people say it means. Which is I guess how language always works, it is just that it is a new word with roots that imply a broader meaning.
The lists generally exclude personality disorders, but this doesn’t seem logical to me, although I am not a neurologist. I thought all brain differences arise or manifest as differences in the brain structure.
https://www.umassp.edu/inclusive-by-design/who-before-how/understanding-disabilities/neurodivergence
https://www.uhhospitals.org/blog/articles/2025/06/what-does-it-mean-to-be-neurodivergent
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neurodivergent
I’m happy to hear that you looked up some of this for yourself. I figured that it was the definitions that were catching you more than the concepts.
The DSM has some very odd references in it. For instance, “retarded” is a technical definition that exists and is a possible diagnosis even though society has long moved passed that concept. Mental health is weird.
I do bad things all the time so does that make me a psychopath? Sure I feel bad all the time and bury my guilt under copious amounts of alcohol but it still works don’t it.
No. You feel bad which means you are capable of empathy.
I seem to recall hearing that there were genetic/epigenetic components that predispose some folks to those personality disorders. I’m not disagreeing with you and I don’t know if the research I saw was corroborated. I just think it’s an interesting idea that you’re not born with NPD, but you can be more vulnerable to developing it.
I think that what you are noting is that narcissism can be caused by differences in brain structure, like in psychopathy, or by differences in upbringing, like in sociopathy. In the first case, you’re born that way. In the second case, trauma and such made you that way.