AI isn't 'a nothing burger,' but won't end 'stagnation' in tech, says Peter Thiel

• Peter Thiel said there would be "total stagnation" in technological advances without AI.
• The billionaire investor told the "Interesting Times" podcast that there was nothing else "going on" in tech.
• Thiel wants to see more risk-taking in areas like travelling to Mars or curing dementia.

Billionaire investor Peter Thiel has said he sees AI as transformative as the internet was in the late 1990s, but that it might not be enough to end "stagnation" in technological advances.

Speaking on The New York Times' "Interesting Times" podcast, Thiel said that, when he's asked "how big" AI will be, his "stupid answer" is that it will be "more than a nothing burger" but "less than the total transformation of our society."

The PayPal cofounder argued in a 2011 essay that technological progress had slowed since the 1970s in areas like energy and transportation, causing a general stagnation despite advances in areas like computers and the internet.

Thiel told the "Interesting Times" podcast that he still "broadly believes in the stagnation thesis" and that without AI, "there's just nothing going on."

Thiel has invested in AI companies including OpenAI, Palantir, and DeepMind, before it was acquired by Google.

While AI "might be enough to create some great companies" and add to GDP, Thiel said he's "not sure it's enough to really end the stagnation."

Thiel said he'd like to see "way more risks" taken in missions like going to Mars or creating cures for dementia.

"I still think we should be trying AI, and that the alternative is just total stagnation," he said.

"If we don't find a way back to the future, I do think that society — I don't know. It unravels, it doesn't work," Thiel added.