By Tim Binnall
This year's annual gathering of global elites known as the Bilderberg Meeting commenced today in Portugal's capital city of Lisbon. Described by organizers as a "forum for informal discussions about major issues," the decades-old event has long been the subject of speculation among conspiracy theorists as, each year, the invitation-only get-together features an array of prominent figures from the worlds of politics, industry, finance, and academia. Although details surrounding the specific conversations that occur at the gathering are shrouded in secrecy, the group behind the Bilderberg Meeting does share a list of attendees as well as an outline of their annual agenda which provides something of a glimpse into what is on the minds of the proverbial 'powers that be.'
According to a press release issued by the event organizers, this year's Bilderberg Meeting will feature "about 130 participants from 23 countries." While many of the attendees are not exactly household names to the general public, they are all considered to be experts in their respective fields or significant political figures from various nations around the world. Among the more noteworthy participants at this year's event are the current U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams, and, intriguingly, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
To that end, the primary topic listed on the agenda for this year's Bilderberg Meeting is 'artificial intelligence. This would seem to suggest that the emerging technology which has captured the public's imagination in recent months is also of considerable concern to the power brokers who have made their way to Lisbon for the weekend. Other areas of exploration planned for the event include China, India, Russia, Ukraine and Europe as well as "energy transition," "fiscal challenges," and "transnational threats." Alas, beyond these largely nondescript topics, the exact nature of the conversations will remain a secret known only to those in attendance, though what comes out of these discussions will likely wind up shaping our world in ways we may never even realize.