(LifeSiteNews) — Approximately 130 political and business leaders from across the world attended this year’s secretive Bilderberg meeting in Lisbon, Portugal from May 18-21. Artificial intelligence and the on-going conflict in Ukraine were the main topics of conversation.
The first Bilderberg conference took place in 1954. Intended to “foster dialogue between Europe and North America,” the annual event is the subject of heavy criticism, with many believing it to be a sort of international shadow government due to its lack of transparency and the influential people who attend it, including past U.S. presidents and prime ministers.
Among those who went to this year’s meeting include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, foreign policy guru Henry Kissinger, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba was also present, as was Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, PayPal founder Peter Thiel, and Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum.
Their primary focus was the growing influence of artificial intelligence, which has alarmed more than a few industry leaders. “AI … has the potential … of civilization destruction,” Twitter CEO Elon Musk told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson last month. “It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using [AI] for bad things,” Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneer in the field, warned The New York Times in May.
The conference was on hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. This year’s gathering – held at the luxurious Pestana Palace – marks the 69th time it has taken place.
While often compared to Klaus Schwab’s World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, Bilderberg is far more selective in who it invites. The conversations are also not available for the public and tend to be more narrowly tailored. This year, banking, China, energy, industrial policy, Europe, U.S. leadership, and “transnational threats” were also discussed.
Over the past several months, the United States has been gripped by a financial crisis that has sent shockwaves throughout the stock market. Many have theorized that a banking crash may be in the works so a government-approved digital currency can be introduced before Joe Biden’s first term in office concludes. Whether or not that was brought up at the 2023 Bilderberg meeting is pure speculation.
Upon arrival in Lisbon, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg unironically told the media that “our security environment is more dangerous than it has been since the Cold War.” Stoltenberg has repeatedly called for more military aid and has helped funnel billions of dollars to Ukraine in recent years.