Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Sophia Bush are pushing back after their names appeared on a list of alleged attendees at Peter Thiel's Dialog conference.
Both actors issued statements insisting they do not know Thiel and were unaware of his connection to the event when they attended.
"I understand why people have questions and are suspicious," Gordon-Levitt wrote on Instagram. "Some of the headlines and posts circulating about this are alarming, if not bizarre. So let me clarify: I have been to two Dialog conferences. But, I do not know Peter Thiel. I've never met him. I've never spoken with him or his representatives. I've never seen him at an event. From what I've read about his views, we are political and ideological opposites."
Gordon-Levitt described the conferences he attended as ideologically mixed gatherings, not events organized around a single point of view.
"At the Dialog conferences I've been to, there were a wide variety of people, with a wide variety of opinions, some I agreed with, some I didn't. I can't speak to every person named in the reporting, but my experience was not of a single ideological gathering."
He added that his recent work has focused on the intersection of technology and the future.
"Over the last couple of years, I've been focused on trying to make a positive impact on how the future unfolds, especially when it comes to tech and Al. Part of that work means forming relationships with all kinds of people, trying to understand their perspective, and trying to get them to understand mine. Sometimes it's productive to engage with those we oppose."
Bush explained that she had been accepting nearly every conference invitation she received in order to speak about the deepfake porn documentary Another Body, which she executive produced alongside Nia Batts. Her goal was to advocate for the DEFIANCE Act, which criminalizes deepfake abuse.
"You can imagine my surprise to learn that a conference I was invited to as a guest who could counter the 'it's-all-progress' narrative of this seeming runaway Al race was founded by someone you could not pay me to be in a room with, let alone charge me money to be in a room with!?" she wrote.
Bush said Thiel was not present at the conference she attended and was never mentioned during her time there. She added that he has not been involved with the organization for approximately 15 years.
"My values are very clear and consistent. I work to protect families — by defending democratic institutions and safeguarding basic human rights," Bush wrote.
Bush said she still found value in attending despite not having researched the event's origins beforehand, adding that she believes in engaging with people who see the world differently.
