CNN and Forbes report that Peter Thiel, speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado earlier this week, attacked Pope Leo XIV and mocked the catholic leader in response to the pope’s grave warnings about the impact of artificial intelligence if the technology is left unregulated by governments, an urgent challenge called for by most experts both in the West and in China.
Responding to Leo’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” which attacks transhumanist techno-fascism, Thiel, clearly furious, said the Vatican’s calls for regulation of artificial intelligence could slow down only one side in the U.S.-China AI race, as leaders in Beijing are less likely to listen to the pope’s plea.
Thiel then argued that in his mind, Leo was “working for the Chinese Communists.” While Thiel was dead serious, his remarks reportedly triggered laughter from the audience. Some months ago,
Thiel has also argued some months ago that the Antichrist could manifest not as an individual but as a world government that seizes power by promising to protect humanity against existential threats such as AI or global warming.