Peter Thiel’s “Evil Is Competent” Comment on Technology Ethics

In September 2026, billionaire Peter Thiel—co-founder of PayPal and Palantir—said that if a person is “evil” they are at least competent, not “bad,” and therefore might be “kind of good” because they get things done. He framed the comment as a linguistic distinction between moral and functional opposites while discussing whether artificial intelligence is a net positive or negative for society.

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The remark was delivered during an interview on a German-hosted podcast with media mogul Mathias Döpfner. The host asked why society tends to moralize new technologies, prompting Thiel to argue that technologies are neutral and that the moral label applied to them depends on human use. He illustrated his point with examples such as calling a Ferrari an “evil car” for its low fuel efficiency and contrasting the German legend of Faust in the works of Christopher Marlowe and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Thiel later emphasized that he prefers “good” to “evil,” despite his earlier wordplay.

Snopes

Following the viral spread of the clip, Thiel reiterated that his intention was not to endorse immoral behavior. He stated that he believes it is better to be good than evil and that his comments were meant to highlight the difference between “bad” (ineffective) and “evil” (morally opposite) in the context of technology use.

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Fact-checking sources differ on the exact title of the podcast. One source identifies it as “MD Connects,” while another refers to it as “MD Meets.” Both agree the episode was released in September 2026 and that the discussion centered on technology ethics, but the discrepancy in the program name remains unresolved. No additional details about the production or a transcript have been provided.

Snopes