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.”

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. “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.” Wow, that’s super deep and profound. Maybe I had these people all wrong. So, essentially, you believe there are likely very talented people who don’t fit within the neat little box of what success is “supposed to typically look like.” They might even be looked over or excluded simply because they don’t fit into that box, but you are wise enough to see past that. You understand that the very traits that lead to their exclusion, may also provide them with a unique perspective that is often lacking in everyone who does fit neatly into that heterogenous box. And that the unique perspective of those divergent people, can actually be an advantage to everyone…

What an interesting, novel idea that has never been tried before and surely hasn’t been bashed by those exact people for the last 10 years. You see, this is different from DEI because it excludes brown and queer people. Who would’ve thought that it was always about just pushing down brown and queer people? WHO?