Peter Thiel
The billionaire investor made the remarks during two recent closed-door lectures in Nashville, according to recordings obtained by Politico’s Decoded. He also questioned the pope’s focus on AI, linking it to the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandals. “Many people know that AI is politically unpopular and want to leverage that to boost their own popularity,” Thiel said. Thiel argued that opposing the technology offered the party a way to appeal to voters despite what he described as a lack of ideas. He was more critical of Pope Leo XIV, suggesting that the pontiff’s focus on AI served as a distraction from the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandals. “He needed something politically popular to distract from the church’s child sex abuse scandals, and he found it in AI,” Thiel said, referring to the pope’s first encyclical on AI. The remarks were made during a series of lectures in Nashville, offering a glimpse into Thiel’s views on the intersection of technology, politics and religion. Thiel has criticised government intervention, which he believes might slow technological progress. Thiel has also warned about the Antichrist, whom he associates with efforts to halt technological progress and promote a “one world government” of regulation. You use AI every day.
Peter Thiel has accused former US President Barack Obama and Pope Leo XIV of opposing artificial intelligence (AI) to boost their popularity. Thiel argued that both leaders were capitalising on public concerns about AI while criticising opponents of the technology as obstacles to technological progress. “Both Obama and the pope fall into this category. Obama knows the Democrats have no ideas, but they can at least oppose AI.” Thiel’s comments reflect his opposition to efforts to regulate artificial intelligence and his belief that the public is using concerns about the technology for political purposes. The investor singled out Obama, who recently urged Democrats to develop a more comprehensive AI plan. Several Silicon Valley investors share his view that too much regulation could stifle innovation and cripple the potential of new technologies. However, his latest remarks go beyond the usual debate over AI policy by framing opposition to the technology in religious terms. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.