Palantir Technologies Inc. has filed a lawsuit against two former senior artificial intelligence engineers, alleging that they misappropriated confidential documents and information to help launch a rival company, Percepta. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, names Radha Jain and Joanna Cohen, who were entrusted with Palantir’s most valuable assets, including its source code, which the company has developed at a cost of billions of dollars.
According to Palantir, Jain and Cohen were far from ordinary employees. Jain was instrumental in designing and building Palantir’s flagship software, while Cohen maintained direct interactions with some of the company’s largest and most important clients. Palantir alleges that both women concealed their true intentions during months leading up to their resignations in November 2024 and February 2025. Their activities were reportedly exposed when venture capital firm General Catalyst announced the launch of Percepta earlier this month.
Palantir, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel and based in Denver, is renowned for its work with U.S. military and intelligence agencies, as well as for commercial data analytics solutions. The company has recently benefited from a surge of interest in AI, boosting its stock price. Palantir describes Percepta as a “copycat competitor,” noting that the startup’s CEO and several executives previously worked at Palantir. The lawsuit claims that the former employees’ actions have provided Percepta with an illegal “head start” in developing competing AI software that integrates directly into business workflows.
The complaint also alleges that Cohen sent highly confidential documents to herself via Slack on the day before leaving the company. Palantir is seeking a court order to enforce the non-compete agreements and to recover company property. General Catalyst, which wholly owns Percepta and has invested in companies including Stripe, Airbnb, Snap, Warby Parker, and Instacart, has not yet commented on the lawsuit. The case is officially recorded as Palantir v. Jain, 25-cv-08985, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
