WIRED: Leaked Data Details Dialog Club’s Member Ranking, Fees, and Bias Claims

A WIRED analysis of newly leaked data alleges that Dialog, a secretive society co-founded by Peter Thiel, used an internal ranking-and-removal system tied to member status, fees, and perceived influence. According to ChainCatcher, the leak covered 192 internal profiles—130 full members plus some candidates—despite the club reportedly having thousands of members. The profiles describe a counterintuitive tier structure in which “C” is the top VIP level, “B” is the majority standard tier, and “A” is the lowest, least prominent tier. The leaked data also suggests the ranking affected costs: about 25% of VIP “C” members were required to pay full attendance fees, while 70% of “A” members reportedly paid full fees of tens of thousands of dollars. The report says Dialog used an AI-based screening approach that heavily weighted public fame. Actor Josh Brolin was reportedly classified as VIP “C” despite never attending, while economist Tyler Cowen was nearly placed in a lower tier before being moved to “C” through manual intervention. The leaked materials also describe a “value-add” score used after gatherings to assess members’ contributions, with staff reviewing performance and removing those deemed low-scoring, culturally mismatched, or declining in influence from invitation lists. In addition, the database reportedly included a social and dating matching feature, with about 10% of members opting into a singles pool and an algorithm that also maintained a “do-not-match” list. WIRED’s analysis further alleges bias in the system: women were said to represent about one-third of members but held 18% of VIP seats. Politically, the data indicated that although more than half of members self-identified as left-leaning, right-leaning members were more than twice as likely to receive VIP status, and one environmental figure’s label was reportedly changed by staff from “left-leaning” to “right-leaning.”