President Trump and first lady Melania hosted more than two dozen tech leaders at the White House Thursday evening, where they hailed the commander in chief for his “pro-business, pro-innovation” approach.
Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, OpenAI founder Sam Altman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and company co-founder Sergey Brin were among the Silicon Valley titans in attendance.
“Thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation President. It’s a very refreshing change,” Altman told Trump at the dinner. “We’re very excited to see what you are doing to make all of our companies and our entire country so successful.”
“The investment that’s happening here, the ability to get the power of the industry back in the United States … I don’t think that would be happening without your leadership,” the ChatGPT creator added.
Cook, who pledged to invest $500 billion of Apple’s money in domestic manufacturing, praised the president for “setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States.”
“That says a lot about your focus and your leadership and your focus on innovation,” the iPhone maker added.
Gates, seated next to Melania, said he and the president were discussing ways to take “American innovation to the next level” to “cure” and “eradicate” devastating diseases, such as polio, sickle cell and HIV.
When it was Brin’s turn to speak, Trump complimented the Google founder’s “really wonderful MAGA girlfriend.”
“Truly, every time I’m here, or in your presence, I’m so grateful … It’s like, I can’t believe it,” Brin’s starstruck girlfriend, Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto, told the president.
Meanwhile, Brin praised Trump’s efforts to support artificial intelligence and up the pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
“You’re applying a lot of pressure to Maduro, and I think that is phenomenal,” Brin said.
He went on to praise Trump for “supporting our companies instead of fighting with them,” describing the shift as “hugely important” for technological development.
On Wednesday, Google dodged a forced selloff of its Chrome browser or its Android operating system in a landmark antitrust case, where a judge slapped the company he had dubbed a “monopolist” with relatively modest penalties.
“You had a very good day yesterday,” Trump told Pichai. “Do you want to talk about that big day you had yesterday?”
“I’m glad it’s over,” the Google CEO responded.
Ex-DOGE chief and tech tycoon Elon Musk, who had a falling out with Trump earlier this year, was notably absent from the dinner.
“I was invited, but unfortunately could not attend,” Musk, the head of SpaceX, Tesla and X, wrote on his social media platform. “A representative of mine will be there.”
The dinner, held in the White House dining room, was originally slated to be held in the newly renovated Rose Garden.
However, inclement weather forced the event indoors.
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