Box, private network founded by Peter Thiel, ranks its attendees on a subtle scale, ranks them by wealth and fame, tracks their relationships, and uses algorithms to help decide who they should meet, stay with, and who isn’t, WIRED has learned.
The records are part of internal data obtained by WIRED from a confidential source, containing the personal information of nearly 200 prominent people scheduled to attend the group’s annual retreat this summer. The data includes home addresses, private phone numbers and email accounts, birthdays, photos, and emergency contacts, as well as food allergies and political leanings provided by other members.
The records are separate from a list of people connected to Dialog that was left public on the organization’s website and has been circulating online since earlier this week—a loose directory that appears to include non-members, such as Maryland governor Wes Moore, who was the keynote speaker, and other foreign guests who passed through Dialog’s route, in some cases over the years.
Founded in 2006 by Thiel and data broker Auren Hoffman, Dialog is a private club that brings together politicians, investors, businessmen, military leaders, executives, academics, and journalists for an invitation-only, off-the-record meeting. According to a Dialog post shared by a past participant, it has “over 1,000 paying members,” and over 2,500 people have attended the annual retreats.
The document, which describes Chat as an “invitation-only community,” distinguishes between two products: membership and retreat. The former allows members—the group calls them “interlocutors”—access to private dinners “hosted in members’ homes and private locations around the world,” as well as “member-led tours around the world,” concierge services, private group chat, and more. Retreats bring together groups of 200 or more people—not necessarily members—in three- to four-day meetings. For example, this August, members, speakers, and guests are scheduled to convene outside Dublin, Ireland, for two days of discussions on artificial intelligence, geopolitics, and modern warfare—from the future of NATO and battlefield technology to the war on Iran—led by current and former lawmakers, diplomats, and national security officials.
(Disclosure: Former WIRED editor-in-chief Nick Thompson—now CEO of The Atlantic—is among those on the public list with unreleased records. He declined to comment.)
The chat box gives people marks before they join. Of the 192 papers reviewed by WIRED, 130 were flagged as members. Other prospects have files with labels like “First Time Dialoger” or “Warm Up.” Everyone—members and prospective invitees alike—is given a grade of A, B, or C. The “C” grade seems to be reserved for the famous and powerful; only one of the seven received it. Most people—141 out of 192—received a “B.” The last category, “A,” seems to be primarily assigned to older, established members of the class that students consider important.
Actor Josh Brolin, who, according to records, has never attended a Dialogue Retreat – is classified as a VIP based on the power of his fame: “His portrayal of Thanos in the Avengers series and his involvement in high-grossing films like Avengers: Endgame, which brought in more than $2.79 billion for his crew,” read his Instagram note. more than 3.4 million followers.
Economist Tyler Cowen, by contrast, was initially denied a “C” VIP rating after the group’s AI tool described him as “widely recognized in his field” but not the leader of “an organization that is a common name for the average person.” (Dialog staff destroyed the AI tool, which was used to compile dossiers on at least 26 people listed in the group.)
Brolin did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment. One of her representatives told The Hollywood Reporter that she wanted to “know what she’s getting herself into.” Cowen did not respond to a request for comment.
