News Summary

Palantir, the US-based AI company co-founded by Peter Thiel, has been granted access to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) sensitive data, raising privacy concerns. The FCA awarded Palantir a contract to analyze its vast data in a bid to combat financial crimes such as fraud, money laundering, and insider trading. This three-month trial, valued at over £30,000 a week, could lead to a full procurement of an AI system. Palantir will utilize its AI system, Foundry, to process the FCA’s data, which includes highly sensitive intelligence files and public complaints data. Despite having signed significant deals with UK public bodies like the NHS and the Ministry of Defence, Palantir’s involvement with the FCA has prompted concerns about the company’s ethical reliability and the potential misuse of data. The FCA has stated that Palantir will act as a data processor, retaining control over encryption keys and ensuring data is hosted only in the UK. However, experts have warned of the potentially significant privacy concerns, arguing for strict confidentiality requirements regarding data usage.