Trump Rallies Tech Giants at White House Dinner, Highlights AI Future

 U.S. President Donald Trump hosted a group of influential tech leaders at the White House on Thursday, highlighting advancements in artificial intelligence and celebrating major corporate investments across the country.“This is elevating our nation to new heights,” Trump remarked from the head of a long table, surrounded by what he called “individuals with exceptional intellect.” The gathering underscores the ongoing, cautious relationship between Trump and the tech industry, with several executives having attended his inauguration. Trump has relished the spotlight from these global business giants, while the companies aim to stay in his favour amid his unpredictable leadership style.

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Throughout the dinner, executives lauded Trump and shared their visions for tech innovation, but the president steered the conversation toward financial commitments. He prompted each attendee to disclose their investment figures in the U.S.Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, seated to Trump's right, reported $600 billion. Apple's Tim Cook echoed the same sentiment. Google's Sundar Pichai announced $250 billion.Turning to Microsoft, Trump quipped, “That's a substantial figure—what's yours?”CEO Satya Nadella replied with up to $80 billion annually.“Excellent,” Trump responded. “That's impressive.”

Conspicuously missing from the lineup was Elon Musk, a former close ally whom Trump had appointed to head the Department of Government Efficiency. Their alliance fractured earlier this year, leading to a public split.In Musk's place was one of his competitors in the AI space, OpenAI's Sam Altman.The event also reflected evolving alliances in Trump's circle, featuring Jared Isaacman, founder of the payment processor Shift4. Isaacman, once a Musk associate and Trump's pick to lead NASA, had his nomination withdrawn after Trump labelled him “essentially a Democrat”.Originally planned for the Rose Garden—where Trump had recently transformed the lawn into an outdoor setup reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida—the dinner was relocated to the White House State Dining Room due to poor weather.

The evening capped off an afternoon session of the White House's newly formed Artificial Intelligence Education task force, chaired by First Lady Melania Trump and attended by some of the same tech figures.“The era of robots is upon us; our future is no longer just fantasy,” Melania Trump stated. Participants included Pichai, IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna, and Code.org President Cameron Wilson.

The White House confirmed the dinner's guest list featured Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates; Google co-founder Sergey Brin; OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman; Oracle CEO Safra Catz; Blue Origin CEO David Limp; Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra; TIBCO Software Chairman Vivek Ranadive; Palantir executive Shyam Sankar; Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang; and Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman.Trump's engagement with tech elites has stirred debate within his own party.

Earlier that day, one of his key congressional allies, Senator Josh Hawley, sharply criticised the industry during a speech at a conservative gathering in Washington.Hawley called for stricter AI regulations, specifically targeting Meta and ChatGPT. “The government must scrutinise these cutting-edge AI systems to understand what the tech giants intend to create or dismantle,” the Missouri senator urged. Despite his criticisms, Trump has enthusiastically adopted AI-generated content, frequently posting it online, even as he voiced concerns about its potential for deception earlier in the week.

Late Wednesday, Trump shared a series of AI-crafted memes and videos, including one showing him interacting with the Cracker Barrel logo character, another depicting California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff with an exaggeratedly long neck, and a third superimposing Trump's face on a pole vaulter clearing a Cracker Barrel banner.

On Tuesday, Trump claimed a video of items being tossed from a White House window was AI-fabricated, though his team had initially verified its authenticity. He added, “If something truly disastrous occurs, I might just have to pin it on AI.”At her task force event, the First Lady echoed the need for balance in AI development.“As leaders and parents, we must guide AI’s expansion with responsibility,” she said, stressing the importance of caution. “In this early phase, we should treat AI like our children—nurturing it while providing vigilant oversight.”

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