Palantir's PS500m NHS, MoD contracts under scrutiny amid privacy concerns
Palantir, a US tech company, just landed a three-month gig with the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to dig into sensitive data on fraud and insider trading from 42,000 firms.
They're getting paid over £30,000 a week for this trial run using their Foundry AI platform, a big move as Palantir's presence in UK public contracts keeps growing.
Privacy worries loom over Palantir's contracts
Palantir has now scored more than £500m in UK public deals, including a reported £330m NHS contract and a £240.6m Ministry of Defence contract (c. £570.6m combined).
But not everyone's thrilled: the FCA is making Palantir keep all data inside the UK and delete it after the trial, following worries about privacy and how personal information might be used to train AI.
Groups like Medact have also flagged concerns about tech companies' ties to military uses possibly eroding trust in public services.
UK government to rethink approach to big tech partnerships
With so much sensitive information at stake, the UK government says it's rethinking how it works with big tech firms like Palantir.
science minister Patrick Vallance has promised to look for new approaches that put more focus on national control and security going forward.