Palantir Says Top AI Engineers Stole Secrets for ‘Copycat’ Firm

Palantir Technologies Inc. sued two former senior artificial intelligence engineers, claiming they stole documents and information to help launch a “copycat” competitor, Percepta.

Palantir filed a lawsuit Thursday against Radha Jain and Joanna Cohen in Manhattan federal court. Both women were entrusted with Palantir’s “crown jewels,” including its source code, in which the company has invested billions of dollars, according to the suit.

“Jain and Cohen were far from rank-and-file employees,” Palantir said in its complaint. “Jain designed and built Palantir’s flagship software, and Cohen interacted directly with some of Palantir’s largest and most important customers.”

According to Palantir, Jain and Cohen conducted a months-long charade and lied about their plans when they respectively resigned in November 2024 and February 2025. The company said their activities came to light earlier this month when Percepta’s launch was announced by venture capital firm General Catalyst.

General Catalyst, which wholly owns Percepta, and its chief legal officer didn’t immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

Denver-based Palantir, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, is best known for its work with U.S. military and intelligence agencies, while also selling its data analysis tools to governments and commercial customers. The company has recently ridden a wave of AI enthusiasm, sending its stock soaring.

Palantir called a Percepta a “copycat competitor,” noting that its chief executive officer and many other executives are former Palantir employees.

“In the simplest terms, Percepta—like Palantir—seeks to design, develop, and deploy software that enables organizations to integrate AI directly into their workflows to increase efficiencies,” the company said. According to Palantir, Jain and Cohen have given Percepta an illegal “head start” in building a competing business.

The women violated their employment and non-competition agreements, Palantir said. In addition, Cohen allegedly took “highly confidential documents” the day before she left Palantir by sending them to herself through Slack.

Palantir is seeking an order requiring Jain and Cohen to comply with the non-compete agreements and also return property taken from the company.

General Catalyst has backed startups including Stripe Inc., Airbnb Inc., Snap Inc., Warby Parker Inc. and Instacart and has been a major investor in AI.

The case is Palantir v. Jain, 25-cv-08985, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Top photo: Palantir Technologies Inc. offices in Palo Alto, California. Bloomberg.