Regulating AI Hastens the Antichrist, Says Palantir's Peter Thiel (www.thetimes.com)

Peter Thiel, Palantir co‑founder and influential Silicon Valley investor, told a sold‑out San Francisco lecture this week that regulating AI risks “courting the devil” and might even hasten the rise of the Antichrist, according to attendee notes and the Wall Street Journal. The remarks were part of a four‑part series organized by the faith‑and‑technology group Acts 17 Collective and were meant to be off‑the‑record; one attendee’s leaked notes sparked media coverage and the revocation of their ticket. The comments come as Palantir announced up to £1.5 billion in UK investment (creating up to 350 jobs) and as the UK Ministry of Defence is reportedly set to spend up to £750 million on Palantir’s AI technology for battlefield targeting—moves that have prompted debate over procurement, domestic industry displacement, and ethical use. For the AI/ML community this episode underscores the growing entanglement of technical systems, geopolitics and personal belief: influential entrepreneurs can shape policy and procurement choices that accelerate deployment of AI in military contexts. Key technical and policy implications include rapid adoption of AI-assisted targeting tools (with attendant accuracy, explainability and accountability concerns), potential crowding out of local suppliers, and contested claims about Palantir’s role in conflict zones (the company denies developing the alleged AI targeting software). Thiel’s public anti‑regulation stance highlights a fault line in debates over safety, governance and whether regulatory restraint will slow beneficial innovation—or, as he argues, produce unintended political consequences.