The One with Glasses and the One with Radar on the Battlefield
Henry Kim ·
"The outcome between the one with glasses and the one with radar on the battlefield is already decided before the fight even begins."
Watching the recent interview with Palantir CEO Alex Karp at the Davos Forum, I fell into deep thought. How many preconceptions must we truly abandon? How fundamentally must we rethink and restart our way of thinking? There are so many things in the world that people believe 'cannot be done.' But he was different.
He calmly explained why AI projects originated in the military sector. Looking back at history, most innovative technologies were born for military purposes, driven by survival, and only later flowed into the public domain. The internet was like that, and so was GPS. From his words, I sensed that his approach to technology had no sacred cows, no taboos. Only goals and results exist.
I thought I was the only one who thought that way. But now I am certain. The general AI from the large platforms we commonly encounter is not as productive as one might think. Generic solutions that anyone can use are too broad and shallow in their application. True innovation comes not from a blunt knife, but from a sharp awl. Organizations and individuals must develop their 'own AI agents,' sharpened and more persistently customized to their specific situations. Only then does it become a solution that solves real problems.
If we apply the military operation analogy mentioned in the interview to business, this situation becomes even more stark. One side enters the battlefield searching for enemies with the naked eye. The other side, however, fights by clearly seeing the enemy's location and movements through satellite GPS, high-performance radar, and thermal cameras. The outcome is obvious. It's a game where one side wins a hundred out of a hundred battles, a contest that is fundamentally rigged.
Business is no different. It's a battle between companies that establish data about their market, accurately grasp its trends, and predict the future through AI, versus those that still rely on intuition. It's a confrontation between those who walk through the fog and those who have cleared it. Who will be the winner in this market is self-evident. What do you hold in your hands right now?