gnabgib 7 hours ago

Discussion (35 points, 13 days ago, 35 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42367981

  • alephnerd 6 hours ago

    The discussion from 13 days ago is only about Andruil and Palantir.

    This current one is drastically expanded to 13 additional firms (including Scale AI, OpenAI, SpaceX, and Saronic)

    • gnabgib 6 hours ago

      Well, this FT based article[0] speculates more companies, with "companies in talks" and "according to several people with knowledge of the matter"... but doesn't back it up with anyone on the record. It's certainly interesting, but no more concrete than last week's coverage.. until January apparently: "The consortium is planning to announce as early as January that it has reached agreements with a number of tech groups"

      [0]: (2 points, 4 hours ago) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42489067

      • alephnerd 6 hours ago

        FT is fairly reliable - it's moreso a leak than "speculation".

        And this is fairly significant news, especially the addition of ScaleAI, OpenAI, and SpaceX in this consortium as leadership at all 3 have bad blood between each other and Founders Fund.

        The Register "article" is just a rehash of Palantir and Andruil's press release.

        > doesn't back it up with anyone on the record

        Because a source is leaking and doesn't want to be attributed.

        Ime, it's probably one of the consortium members themselves who leaked this (probably to gauge sentiment).

        You should absolutely be cautious about sources, but FT is fairly reliable and has an incentive to not leak unreliable or inaccurate information.

blackeyeblitzar 6 hours ago

I am excited for this new push to break the oligopoly of the incumbent defense contractors. They all provide subpar products at ridiculous prices, and are lacking in innovation. The opaque process of bidding on these contracts and all of the corruption from donations, distorts competition. But I also worry that Palantir and Anduril, and others were associated with them will simply form a new cartel, rather than opening up bidding to everyone, including much smaller startups.

  • scaramanga 5 hours ago

    It is their job to deliver shareholder value.