Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel has sparked debate after claiming that being evil is 'actually kind of good' during a recent interview. The billionaire venture capitalist made the remarks while speaking with Mathias Döpfner, CEO of the media group Axel Springer, on the topic of whether artificial intelligence is positive or negative for humanity.
Thiel's 'evil' comments
Thiel acknowledged his comments might be controversial, saying: 'I'm going to get in trouble for what I'm about to say, but I think we moralise way too much.' He went on to argue: 'If you're evil, you're at least competent. And if you're evil, you're not bad and therefore maybe you're actually kind of good because you're at least getting something done.'
The Palantir boss used two analogies to illustrate his theory, first comparing humans to cars. He said: 'A Ferrari is an evil car because it doesn't get many miles per gallon. A trabby is a bad car; it's less good than a golf car.'
Faust comparison
Thiel then referenced the story of Faust, a doctor who sells his soul to the devil. He said: 'Faust is a fake scientist; he's sort of like a magician, a fake alchemist, and it's bad science, and he goes straight to hell. In Goethe's Faust, he has a pact with the devil, and he gets his knowledge by morally dubious means, but it still always works out for the best and Goethe's Faust gets redeemed.'
He added: 'It's better to be good than evil, I want to be very clear, but you know I prefer Goethe's Faust to Marlowe's.' Thiel went on to say the real problems are '99%' of businesses, companies, people and political leaders who are 'totally incompetent' and therefore 'not even evil'.
2009 article and Palantir contracts
Döpfner also asked Thiel about an article he wrote in 2009, in which he claimed he stopped believing freedom and democracy are compatible. Thiel explained that he issued a correction to the article two weeks after it was published and clarified it was directed at 'libertarians' who put too much faith in politics. He said: 'I don't think democracy will go anywhere and what I was arguing for was a certain depoliticisation, a de-intensification of politics'.
Earlier in the year, Sadiq Khan blocked a £50,000,000 deal between the Met Police and Palantir due to the company's links with ICE in the US and Israeli attacks in Gaza and Lebanon. Palantir already has contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds with NHS England and the Ministry of Defence, respectively.
