Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel’s fingerprints are all over the AI revolution, from his early funding of DeepMind to his mentorship of OpenAI’s Sam Altman. He advised another mentee, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, on how to secure his ironclad control over what was then Facebook—and then, years later, on how to replace his tech-nerd image with a more Millennial-friendly persona. 

But Thiel’s influence is no longer just a feature of Silicon Valley; it is now deeply embedded in the U.S. government. Thiel was the first major tech figure to declare support for Donald Trump ahead of his first election as President in 2016. Now, in Trump’s second term, many of the most influential figures shaping national AI policy are Thiel’s protégés and longtime collaborators.

Now more than ever, the billionaire’s techno-libertarian views have a direct line to the highest levels of U.S. policymaking. David Sacks, who helped launch the online payments company PayPal with Thiel, now serves as President Trump’s AI and crypto czar, in charge of outlining the nation’s AI policy. Vice President J.D. Vance’s political career was launched by a record-setting $15 million donation from Thiel. Michael Kratsios, Thiel’s former chief of staff at Thiel Capital, is a key advisor to Trump. It may therefore come as no surprise that Trump’s AI policy, announced in July, reflects many of Thiel’s key preoccupations: ending a period of perceived industrial decline, reducing the influence of so-called woke ideas, and casting skepticism on regulations that might require enforcement by what Thiel calls a “one-world government.”