Silicon Valley is taking over Britain

Ed returns as a citizen to join Seán in unpacking Coventry City Council’s recent decision to sign a £500,000-a-year contract with US data tech company Palantir.

The council previously ran a pilot scheme in its children’s services department, using Palantir’s AI to transcribe case notes and summarise social workers’ records. Now, it plans to extend the technology to supporting children with special educational needs. But is outsourcing such sensitive work to a controversial Silicon Valley giant really the future of local government?

Palantir isn’t just any AI company. Co-founded by Peter Thiel, the PayPal billionaire who bankrolled Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, Palantir facilitates Trump’s deportation agenda and supplies technology to the IDF.

Seán and Ed debate whether councils should trust companies like Palantir with public services, pointing out the risks of data sovereignty, automation errors, and lessons from past scandals like Horizon. Should taxpayer money be spent on AI software that could displace human workers, or would it be better invested in caseworkers and frontline staff?

Palantir already works with the NHS and Leicestershire Police, while Keir Starmer toured the company’s Washington HQ earlier this year. Is Britain sleepwalking into a future where big tech runs public services?

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