Peter Thiel likens AI regulators to the 'Antichrist' in Nashville lectures

At the first two talks of a four-part lecture series in Nashville on Thursday, billionaire investor Peter Thiel compared AI regulators to the "Antichrist" and criticized former President Barack Obama and Pope Leo XIV for opposing AI. The lectures cost $100 per ticket and were recorded, according to Politico's Decoded newsletter.

Thiel told attendees that "many people know that AI is politically unpopular" and want to leverage that to boost their own popularity. He placed both Obama and the pope in that category, saying Obama knows the Democrats have no ideas but can at least oppose AI.

Thiel also attacked Pope Leo XIV for targeting AI in his first encyclical, which linked the AI era with "new forms of dehumanization" and "idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak." Thiel claimed the pope needed a politically popular topic to distract from the church's child sex abuse scandals and found it in AI.

Politico reported that Thiel's central thesis is that government efforts to regulate AI are evil. He also discussed the "Katechon" and spent a significant portion of one lecture criticizing effective altruism, which he linked to the idea of a one-world government that would stop AI progress. Thiel's representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

The report noted that Thiel has substantial investments in AI, including startups funded by Founders Fund, Palantir's AI products, and a $418 million AI-focused portfolio at Thiel Macro LLC.