The Verge examines Peter Thiel’s apocalyptic views on AI and the Antichrist

Peter Thiel’s private lectures on the Antichrist link artificial intelligence, safety concerns and end-times theology, according to an analysis by The Verge. The publication says it reviewed recordings and transcripts of all four lectures, which Thiel delivered in Rome in March.

Thiel argues that calls for “peace and safety” could lead to an unjust peace. In the lectures, he considers whether a future conflict might be World War III or Cold War II, and whether the latter could end in an unjust settlement. He connects those fears to biblical passages about wars and the Antichrist.

The Verge describes Thiel as a Protestant who calls himself a “heterodox Christian.” Its analysis says his outlook combines familiar American evangelical ideas with references to sources including the Bible, Robert Hugh Benson’s 1907 novel Lord of the World and Scottish poetry. The article characterizes his interpretation as sometimes highly literal.

Thiel’s lectures began with a 2023 talk at the Catholic University of America, The Verge reports. Since 2025, he has given multipart lectures in private, invitation-only settings. The publication says recordings of the lectures were leaked to it months ago. In July, Thiel published a version of the ideas in the conservative religious journal First Things, in an essay titled “The Pope and the Antichrist.”

The Verge frames Thiel’s views as a rival to the existential-risk concerns associated with effective altruism, whose adherents it says work across the AI industry, including at Anthropic and METR. Thiel has argued that effective altruism could bring about the Antichrist.