Dialog presents itself as an invitation-only community for powerful people to meet away from public view. Internal records reviewed by WIRED suggest that behind that private setting is a structured system for ranking people, pricing access, arranging introductions and deciding who remains welcome.
The records concern nearly 200 prominent people scheduled for the group’s annual retreat this summer. They show a private network using grades, scores and staff notes to sort attendees by status, usefulness and fit.
What Dialog Is
Dialog was founded in 2006 by Peter Thiel and data broker Auren Hoffman. The private club brings together politicians, investors, entrepreneurs, military leaders, executives, academics and journalists for invitation-only, off-the-record retreats.
A Dialog document shared by a past participant says the group has “over 1,000 paying members,” while more than 2,500 people have attended its annual retreats. The group refers to members as “dialogers.”
The same document separates Dialog into two offerings: membership and retreats. Membership includes private dinners “hosted in members’ homes and private spaces around the world,” “member-led global treks,” concierge services, a private group chat and other benefits.
Retreats are broader gatherings. They can bring together groups of 200 or more people, and not everyone who attends is necessarily a member. This August, members, speakers and guests are scheduled to meet outside Dublin, Ireland, for two days of discussions on artificial intelligence, geopolitics and modern warfare, including NATO’s future, battlefield tech and the war in Iran.
The Hidden Ranking System
WIRED reports that Dialog assigns grades before people join. Of the 192 dossiers it examined, 130 are tagged as members. Others are prospects, with files labeled “First Time Dialoger” or “Warm.”
Each person is assigned an A, B or C grade. In the records, “C” appears to be the top status category, used for the most famous and influential people. Only one in seven received it. Most people, 141 of 192, received a “B.” The “A” grade appears mainly tied to older, established members whom graders viewed as less notable.
The system also includes staff notes that help explain the grades. Around 50 dossiers include leaked notes. Wealth is one common justification. One investor is described through $30 billion in assets under management, while another receives the blunt note “Small AUM.” Fame is another major factor.
Actor Josh Brolin is categorized as a VIP even though the records say he has never attended a Dialog retreat. A note points to his role as Thanos in the Avengers series, his involvement in films such as Avengers: Endgame, which grossed over $2.79 billion, and his Instagram following of over 3.4 million.
Economist Tyler Cowen was treated differently at first. Dialog’s AI tool described him as “widely recognized within his field” but not as leading “an organization that is a household name to the average person.” Staff later overruled the tool. WIRED says the AI system was used to assemble dossiers on at least 26 people in the group’s list.
How Scores Affect Access
The records suggest the grades are not passive labels. They help shape who meets whom, who sits where, who pays what and who may be removed from future events.
Staff notes show concern about seating. In one case, a staffer assigned a grade “so she doesn't get seated with grade Cs,” indicating an effort to keep that member away from VIP attendees.
Most people also carry a separate “value-add” score from 1 to 4, averaged from ratings by several staff members. Dialog can disinvite people from events with explanations such as “Value Add Too Low,” “Poor Culture Fit” and “Grade Fell Too Low.”
Another category, called a “moderation tier,” tracks who is trusted to moderate discussions, lead Dialog workshops or hold “Soapbox” sessions. After each retreat, staff revisit and revise grades through an internal process called a “post-retreat code review.”
The grades also connect to pricing. Event costs can reach into the tens of thousands of dollars. Bottom-grade attendees are placed on the full-price tier roughly 70 percent of the time, while about a quarter of people considered VIPs are placed there. Staff still set prices by hand. One note resisted raising a best-selling author’s fee “just because her boyfriend has $$.”
The records also show people being considered for removal. A quantum-computing startup founder was flagged after one gathering with the note: “Doesn't have significant following. [Value add] not high enough to keep.”
Personal Data and Political Labels
The trove received by WIRED includes sensitive personal information. The data contains home addresses, private phone numbers and email accounts, dates of birth, photos, emergency contacts, food allergies and political leanings volunteered by some members.
WIRED says these records are separate from a looser directory that was exposed on Dialog’s website and circulated online earlier this week. That public-facing list appears to include nonmembers, including Maryland governor Wes Moore, a former event speaker, and other outside guests who had passed through Dialog’s orbit.
The internal records also describe the group’s makeup. Women account for roughly a third of those graded, but hold only 18 percent of top marks.
Dialog also tracks apparent political leanings. Members are encouraged to disclose their own politics, but staff make separate internal assessments, and those assessments do not always match. Eleven members received labels despite disclosing nothing. The self-descriptions of 15 others were overridden.
In one example, the head of one of the world’s largest conservation groups described himself as left-leaning, while Dialog staff placed him on the right. In the data for August’s event, 165 people disclosed their politics. More than half identified with the left, but those on the right were more than twice as likely to carry a “C.”
Algorithms for Networking and Dating
The leak also points to a matchmaking system used for networking and dating. Roughly 10 percent of respondents opted into a singles pool. More than three-quarters already have algorithm-suggested matches, which staff appear to adjust manually.
The system can pair people based on location, work and other profile details. One staff note links two members because “you're both in New York and work in government.” Each introduction includes a photo and short bio shown to the other person.
Taken together, the records show Dialog operating less like a simple private retreat and more like a managed social platform for elites. The central issue is not only that powerful people are meeting in private. It is that the private club is using hidden grades, staff judgments and algorithmic tools to decide how those people are valued, introduced, priced and retained.