U.S. Army Gives Unprecedented Military Rank to Ai Tech Executives

"We need meritocracy. How do you get meritocracy? Well, there's lots of ways you can get meritocracy. One way is because you're scared." - Alex Karp, CEO Palantir, Q1 2025 IR Call

June 18, 2025: The US military is ideally supposed to be a meritocracy. Meritocracy is when an individual or a group of individuals achieve positions of power based on their abilities, expertise, and results achieved alone.

One’s military rank is not supposed to be based on gender, race, age, or even years enlisted. Command and rank are supposed to be based on performance. That being said, you can’t just walk into the offices of the US Army with zero years of enlisted experience and demand that you be sworn in as a Lieutenant Colonel or Brigadier General because you’re a tech exec broligarch. Right?

Well, not anymore.