At a state dinner hosted by President Trump to honor Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a number of prominent American tech billionaires attended, reflecting the increasing focus on the global AI competition. Elon Musk, the wealthiest individual in the world and CEO of Tesla, was seen alongside Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Tim Cook from Apple, and Lisa Su of AMD at the heart of the event.
Other notable attendees included Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman from OpenAI, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, and Alphabet’s Sergey Brin and Sundar Pichai, along with Michael Dell from Dell Technologies.
Interestingly, no Chinese business leaders were present, a stark contrast to the dinner hosted by then-President Barack Obama in 2015, as reported by the Washington Post.
This dinner offered a rare occasion for top tech figures to network with Chinese officials amid a growing debate on the pace of AI development—whether to slow it due to safety concerns or continue full steam ahead. Trump, for his part, has dismissed dire predictions about AI’s risks, including ones suggesting it could lead to human extinction by 2030, and instead emphasized the urgency of retaining a competitive edge over China.
Chinese officials have also downplayed such warnings, critiquing them as exaggerated fears and Cold War rhetoric, and encouraging companies to forge ahead with AI advancements. Xi has expressed intentions for China to lead the way in AI collaboration with developing nations.
Despite the tensions in the tech industry, attendees seemed to enjoy the lavish atmosphere of the White House’s East Room, walking the red carpet before the event. The dinner featured decor that paid homage to China’s flag, a toast of Schramsberg “Blanc De Noir,” and a menu infused with Chinese flavors, all curated under the eye of First Lady Melania Trump.
Notably absent from the gathering was Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, who has advocated for stricter regulations on AI development and had faced criticism from Trump for his views.
Amodei had recently shared an extensive proposal urging global tech companies to decelerate their AI advancements, following alarm raised by a former Anthropic researcher about the technology’s dangers. Interestingly, rivals Altman and Musk both supported his call for cooperation among regulators and tech firms worldwide. Trump, however, criticized Amodei, suggesting that any slowdown in American development might benefit China instead.
In a Truth Social post, Trump expressed his belief in a “SICK conspiracy” against AI and data centers, emphasizing that the outcome of the AI race is crucial for global dominance.
Earlier this year, Anthropic had clashed with the government when it declined to provide unrestricted access to its technology for military and surveillance purposes, leading to a temporary blacklisting by War Secretary Pete Hegseth, which was later overturned by a federal judge.
Huang and Zuckerberg have both argued that the ominous warnings about AI risks are overstated, suggesting that the pace of development should be left to the discretion of the companies, rather than imposed by regulatory bodies.
