The Leaked Secrets of Dialog: An Invitation-Only Network

A massive dump of internal documents just opened up a rare peek into Dialog . It’s this invitation-only network started by US billionaire Peter Thiel and PayPal co-founder. They've been running these private, off-the-record chats for almost twenty years now, bringing together some seriously prominent figures from all sorts of fields politics, business, academia...

Dialog markets itself as a place to swap ideas, trying to steer clear of the noise on social media, the news cycle, and public pressure. But what these leaked records actually show is much messier.

The exposed material reportedly names hundreds of people connected to the group. It details who’s signed up for the next retreat and throws around an eclectic agenda. We're talking about everything from artificial intelligence and global conflict right through to sex, happiness, and even instructions on how to "build a cult."

And it gets weirder. The records suggest Dialog grades its participants based on perceived influence. They kept sensitive personal stuff phone numbers, emails, home addresses, birth dates, even food allergies and political leanings. There were matchmaking systems too. Ways to decide whom members should sit next to, who they should meet, or maybe even date.

So, what exactly is Peter Thiel’s Dialog? It started back in 2006, with him and technology entrepreneur Auren Hoffman setting up this private network for the elite. They drew people from business, government, media, academia the usual suspects.

Thiel himself co-founded PayPal, obviously. And he also got involved with Palantir Technologies, that data analytics and defense company used by the US military and intelligence agencies. Hoffman is another entrepreneur who built his own data businesses.

The whole thing operates under a very strict off-the-record rule. No one is supposed to publicly repeat what happens in these meetings. It’s kept incredibly private, which is why it’s often compared to things like the Bilderberg meetings those annual gatherings of top political and corporate heavyweights.

They do retreats yearly. Previous events happened at places like the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain in Arizona or the San Clemente Palace in Venice. One statistician, Andrew Gelman, even got an invitation back in 2022 describing the format and quoting a registration fee that pushed past sixteen thousand dollars.

But the real shock came from the leak itself. A Swiss hacktivist named maia arson crimew found a directory hidden inside the website’s code after getting an anonymous tip. They verified it, they actually got registration data for the 2026 retreat.

This directory lists two hundred and twenty people registered for that gathering. Eighty-seven of them were first-timers. Some had been around Dialog for over ten years. It includes attendance histories and membership tags like "active member" or "guest."

Then there are the truly sensitive parts. Separate files show private phone numbers, emails, home addresses, emergency contacts, photos, food allergies, political leanings... all of it exposed.

Who was actually on that list for the 2026 event? It brings together figures from government, defense, finance, and tech leadership. We’re talking about US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Republican Senator Ted Cruz, US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, General Alexus Grynkewich NATO's supreme commander in Europe and head of the US European Command.

Democratic Representative Jim Himes, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee overseeing US intelligence agencies with Palantir contracts, is also listed. Plus, co-founders like Joe Lonsdale from Palantir and a bunch of "PayPal Mafia" figures are named alongside ambassadors and former White House staff, military brass...

Then there’s the entertainment side too. The Daily Mail pointed out some others expected to show up: Elon Musk, Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, Microsoft gaming president Sarah Bond, and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman. And actors Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sophia Bush, music executive Scooter Braun, composer Benj Pasek, media exec Isaac Lee, journalist Ezra Klein.

But here’s the catch. Being on that directory doesn't mean you were actually a member or will be at the Ireland event. It seems to include former speakers and people who just interacted with the group over the years.

The agenda is what really sticks out when you look at the leaked plans. Sessions like "Navigating WWIII," "Battlefield Technologies," "Bring Back Nuclear," and "Democracy Under Surveillance" immediately flag war and security as huge topics. Tech discussions included "Disinformation and Deepfakes" and "Contrarian AI Takes." It seems many participants genuinely believe AI will reshape employment, warfare, politics, and religion in the near future.

Then there are the personal bits. Things like "Money (Does?) Buy Happiness," "How’s Your Sex Life?", and "Research-Based Longevity Hacks" pop up too. One session even called "Build-a-Cult," supposedly moderated by someone from Pray.com, a Christian networking platform. There was also a session about "Build-a-Party," linked to some former White House security folks.

The agenda doesn't tell you what actually got said, of course. But it suggests an intense focus on power structures and personal desires.

And the grading system? That’s probably the most unsettling part. Another investigation found that Dialog internally scores attendees based on wealth, fame, and influence. Nearly two hundred people got letter grades and "value-add" scores. These assessments apparently dictated seating arrangements, introductions, meeting recommendations, event fees... everything. Despite warnings in their guide to avoid status signaling, the system quantified status in excruciating detail.

They told members to keep bios focused only on what mattered for conversation, but this internal scoring suggests they tracked everything.

And then there's the matchmaking aspect. Dialog isn't just about policy and tech talks. It apparently runs an internal dating service too. People register if they are "looking for love." Participants in that feature could share more details about their politics and relationship preferences. They assured people this wouldn't get out publicly, but all that data ended up sitting in Airtable, a commercial database, exposed by the leak.

When asked what those linked figures had to say, things got defensive fast. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt said he attended two conferences but never met Thiel himself. He wrote on Instagram that he understood why people were suspicious some headlines felt bizarre or alarming. He stressed that his experience wasn't about one single political worldview; it was just a wide variety of opinions.

Meanwhile, Josh Brolin’s spokesperson was less diplomatic. He told The Hollywood Reporter the actor "would like to know what the f**k he got himself into."