Palantir Sues Ex-Engineers Over Plans to Launch 'Copycat' AI Startup – Decrypt

Palantir Applied sciences has filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to two former senior engineers, alleging they used stolen commerce secrets and techniques to launch a “copycat” AI integration firm that straight competes with the information analytics big’s core enterprise.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court docket, seeks to dam Radha Jain and Joanna Cohen from persevering with a “months-long charade of deception and unfair competitors,” as Palantir alleges they violated contractual obligations by constructing Percepta, an AI transformation startup owned by enterprise capital big Basic Catalyst.

The criticism claims the engineers have been entrusted with Palantir’s “crown jewels,” together with supply code, inner healthcare demonstration workspaces, deployed buyer workflows, and proprietary buyer engagement methods representing billions of {dollars} in funding.

Jain, who helped design Palantir’s flagship AIP Logic, resigned in November 2024, and Cohen, a Healthcare Lead who constructed AI options for main purchasers, left in February.

Each allegedly stored their new employer secret, refused to signal separation agreements, and left their LinkedIn profiles unchanged for months, based on the lawsuit.

Palantir alleges that the day after giving discover, Cohen despatched herself extremely confidential Palantir paperwork by way of Slack, together with a healthcare income cycle diagram, an inner demo framework, and a draft assertion of labor, and later accessed them on her private cellphone.

“They lied about their plans after they resigned, Cohen stole Palantir’s confidential paperwork and knowledge on her means out the door, they usually each hid their aggressive misconduct for months,” the submitting notes.

Percepta emerged from stealth mode in October, with a enterprise mannequin mirroring Palantir’s and a workforce composed of almost half former Palantir workers, together with co-founder Hirsh Jain.

Throughout a Forbes interview, Basic Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja acknowledged Palantir’s worth and mentioned his firm was engaged on creating “a model” of Palantir’s enterprise.

The lawsuit warns that within the fingers of a competitor, the stolen paperwork may very well be used to “shortcut over a decade of Palantir’s analysis” and “evade hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in funding prices.”

Palantir claims Percepta might “replicate its simplest demonstrations” and leverage stolen insights to win purchasers, “irreparably harming” its market place.

The defendants have been paid “hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of compensation” in change for non-competition agreements barring them from competing for 12 months, non-solicitation clauses lasting 24 months, and confidentiality obligations, the corporate claims.

Palantir not too long ago secured a contract with the U.S. Military value as much as $10 billion over the subsequent decade and gained a $30 million contract to construct ImmigrationOS for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

At The Info’s WTF Summit on Wednesday, Lisa Gordon, Palantir’s head of worldwide communications, mentioned that the corporate’s shift towards the Trump administration is “regarding.”

“I feel it will be difficult, as a number of the corporate is transferring pro-Trum-, you understand, is transferring in a sure path,” Gordon mentioned, stopping herself mid-word, based on a CNBC report.

Palantir, valued at $461.54 billion after a 374.87% market-cap surge, is looking for emergency injunctive reduction, authorized payment reimbursement, and an extension of non-compete intervals to cowl the alleged breach.

Hirsh Jain and Basic Catalyst didn’t instantly reply to Decrypt’s requests for remark.