“Men and machines are good at different things. People form plans and make decisions in complicated situations. We are less good at making sense of enormous amounts of data. Computers are exactly the opposite: they excel at efficient data processing but struggle to make basic judgments that would be simple for any human.”

German-American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and conservative political activist

Peter Thiel is a German-American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and conservative political activist. He is known as a co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, and as Facebook's first outside investor. His work spans startups, investment, and politics, and his public profile is tied to the companies he helped build and back. Forbes estimated his net worth at US$37.7 billion as of October 2026.