After a once cool relationship, many tech leaders embraced Trump in his second term and the president has taken a favorable approach to the industry.
President Donald Trump on Thursday gathered a who’s who of the tech world’s elite for dinner at the White House, with Elon Musk, a notable industry giant excluded.
Among those invited to the Sept. 4 dinner: Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google’s Sergey Brin and Sundar Pichai and OpenAI founder Sam Altman, according to a White House official. Not on the list: Elon Musk, the Tesla, X, SpaceX and xAI leader who once was among Trump’s closest allies before a falling out.
After a once cool relationship with Silicon Valley, Trump has been embraced by many tech leaders in his second term and the president has taken a favorable approach to the industry, promoting crypto currencies, warning foreign countries against adopting tech regulations and pushing a plan for American dominance in artificial intelligence while dropping former President Joe Biden’s AI restrictions.
The tech leaders invited to the White House represent some of the biggest AI firms in the world. First Lady Melania Trump hosted a White House event focused on AI earlier in the day that was attended by Altman and Pichai.
“The robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction,” Melania Trump said at the event, which was focused on AI education initiative she leads.
U.S. firms are racing to establish AI dominance over China, and Trump has been a major booster. He appointed venture capitalist David Sacks as the White House AI and crypto czar.
Sacks outlined the Trump administration’s efforts to ensure the U.S. “dominates” in AI and thanked tech leaders attending the earlier AI event for “putting America first.”
Trump has implemented an aggressive tariff program and pushed companies to shift manufacturing to the United States, prompting many to announce new U.S. investments. Cook jointed Trump at the White House in August to tout an additional $100 billion in spending by Apple on its U.S. operations.
“You’re all in for America,” Sacks told tech leaders Sept. 4.
The Trump administration released an artificial intelligence blueprint in June that aims to loosen environmental rules and vastly expand AI exports to allies, in a bid to maintain the American edge over China in the critical technology.
Trump’s AI plan, which includes some 90 recommendations, calls for the export of U.S. AI software and hardware abroad as well as a crackdown on state laws deemed too restrictive to let it flourish, a marked departure from Biden’s “high fence” approach that limited global access to coveted AI chips.
Meta, Google, Microsoft, Apple and OpenAI are all big players in the AI market. Zuckerberg, Pichai, Cook and Altman all attended Trump’s inauguration.
Musk also attended the inauguration and led Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency in an effort to overhaul the federal government, but has feuded with the president since leaving the White House. He wasn’t on the dinner invite list, according to the White House official.
The world’s richest man, Musk is among the tech world’s most prominent figures and has been critical of others in the industry. Last month, he accused Apple of an “antitrust violation” involving its App Store and AI, and threatened legal action. Altman responded on social media that “This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself.” Altman and Musk continued to go back and forth online. They founded OpenAI together before Musk left the company.
The dinner invite list includes two dozen top-tech figures. Among the other names on the list: Figma CEO Dylan Field, Groq President Sunny Madra, Social Capital founder Chamath Palihapitiya, Zynga founder Mark Pincus, Ring founder Jamie Siminoff and Oracle CEO Safra Catz.
Also on the list: Blue Origin CEO David Limp, Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Tibco founder Vivek Ranadive and Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar. (USA Today)