Marc Andreessen, pivotal co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, appears to have run afoul of the internet’s tech crowd after criticizing the Pope over the weekend.
Andreessen, a self-avowed “techno-optimist,” has made it very clear that he doesn’t really believe in any sort of regulatory or ethical guardrails for technological development (he has characterized such efforts as being part of a “mass demoralization campaign” against tech that is based on “zombie ideas, many derived from Communism”). As such, he doesn’t seem to have appreciated a recent missive sent out by the Catholicism’s newest head honcho. In a recent X post, Pope Leo called for ethical guardrails for AI development, asking that the “builders of #AI” make sure to “cultivate moral discernment as a fundamental part of their work—to develop systems that reflect justice, solidarity, and a genuine reverence for life.”
Andreessen responded by reposting the religious leader’s thoughts with a screenshot of the GQ journalist from that recent interview with Sydney Sweeney. The journalist’s face notably bore a skeptical expression, seeming to imply Andreessen’s disgruntlement over the Pope’s views. The post, which has now been deleted but was viewed by one of Gizmodo’s editors before its expungement from the web, apparently inspired the ire of those web users who would prefer their AI with a little bit of “moral discernment.”
© Screenshot/XWhat were X users mad about? Frankly, it’s sorta unclear. It looks like there were a hodgepodge of complaints, without any super coherent through line. Some accounts identifying as Christians seemed upset that their religious leader had been criticized. Others just took it as a sign that Marc was spouting BS again.
The charge initially seems to have been led by one prominent user, @growing_daniel, who replied to Andreessen’s post by merely saying: “Don’t mock the pope.”
One user, whose bio identified him as a Christian, said that the Pope’s message was a “very sober and important warning to those building some of the most advanced and revolutionary technology of all time,” and said it urged Andreessen and his ilk to “remain aware of the responsibility they hold to ensure these quasi-magical tools work to serve humanity.” He called Andreessen’s mockery “so very telling about the state of entrepreneurship and innovation today.”
“The Pope > Marc Andreessen by a wide mile in terms of trust. I’m not even particularly religious at all. In fact I’m down right agnostic,” another user wrote.
“Marc primarily funds gambling apps, cheating apps, and bot farms,” another user, startup founder Daniel Francis, wrote. “He does not want you to build things that are actually good for society.”
There were also a decent number of posters (perhaps more than those actually bashing Andreessen) who ran to his defense, and more than a few dunking on the religious leader. Case in point, one poster said: “Fuck the pope he’s a commie traitor.”
Later, Shaun McGuire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, also sought to clear Andreessen’s name. “I love Marc Andreessen,” McGuire wrote. “He’s brilliant and principled He’s a deep thinker who can back up his ideas to any level of depth Good luck to his haters.”
There were also a number of users who seemed to be merely entertained by the fact that Andreessen seemed to have been bullied into deleting his tweets. “With enough bullying, you, too, can wield the collective ire of tpot to force Marc Andreessen to delete his tweets about the pope,” one user wrote.
Gizmodo reached out to Andreessen Horowitz for comment.
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