President Donald Trump hosted a high-profile dinner with some of America’s most influential technology executives Thursday evening, gathering leaders from Meta, Apple, Microsoft and OpenAI in the White House State Dining Room for what was billed as a celebration of American innovation in artificial intelligence.
The exclusive gathering included Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, along with more than two dozen other tech industry figures. Zuckerberg sat directly to the president’s right, while Gates was seated next to first lady Melania Trump.
“It’s an honor to be here with this group of people, they’re leading a revolution in business and in genius and in every other word I think you could imagine,” Trump said in opening remarks. “This is definitely a high-IQ group, and I’m very proud of them.”
The dinner was originally planned as the inaugural event for the newly renovated Rose Garden, which Trump had paved over with stone and equipped with tables and umbrellas resembling the outdoor setup at his Mar-a-Lago club. However, heavy rain forced organizers to move the event indoors.
Tech executives took turns offering praise for Trump’s policies, particularly his administration’s approach to artificial intelligence regulation. “Thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation president,” Altman said. “It’s a very refreshing change. The investment that’s happening here, the ability to get the power of the industry back, I think it’s going to set us up for a long period of leading the world, and that wouldn’t be happening without your leadership.”
Zuckerberg highlighted Meta’s financial commitment to the United States, saying all attendees were making “huge investments” in the country “to build out data centers and infrastructure to power the next wave of innovation,” with Meta committing to at least $600 billion through 2028.
Cook thanked Trump “for setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States,” referencing Apple’s recent announcement of a $100 billion commitment to American manufacturing. “That says a lot about your focus and your leadership and your focus on innovation.”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai described the current moment as “one of the most transformative moments any of us have ever seen” in AI development, while Google co-founder Sergey Brin praised the administration for “supporting our companies instead of fighting with them.”
Notably absent from the gathering was Tesla CEO Elon Musk, once among Trump’s closest advisers before a public falling out earlier this year over government spending. “I was invited, but unfortunately could not attend,” Musk wrote on social media platform X. “A representative of mine will be there.”
The dinner followed an afternoon meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education, chaired by first lady Melania Trump. “The robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction,” she said in opening the earlier session. “As leaders and parents we must manage AI’s growth responsibly.”
The gathering highlighted Trump’s increasingly close relationship with Silicon Valley, a marked shift from his first presidency when relations with tech companies were often strained. Many of the attending CEOs donated to Trump’s inauguration fund and have announced major investments in American operations since his return to office.
Gates, whose charitable foundation focuses on public health, used his speaking time to discuss vaccine development advancements, lauding Trump’s Operation Warp Speed initiative. His remarks came hours after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, faced tough questioning during a Senate hearing.
Oracle CEO Safra Catz told Trump that “the fact that you are our President and you recognized this right away, and you’ve unleashed American innovation and creativity, is making it possible for America to WIN.”
The dinner represented a broader effort by the Trump administration to position the United States as the global leader in AI development, with officials emphasizing the strategic importance of maintaining technological superiority over competitors like China.
White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks, who attended the dinner, had earlier outlined the administration’s efforts to ensure America “dominates” in AI and thanked tech leaders for “putting America first.”
Other notable attendees included Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Blue Origin CEO David Limp, and Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar. The guest list also featured venture capitalists and founders from smaller tech companies, reflecting the administration’s broad outreach to the industry.
The White House described the renovated Rose Garden as the “Rose Garden Club” and indicated it plans to host similar events for business and political leaders in the future. A White House spokesperson called it “the hottest place to be in Washington, or perhaps the world.”
Trump has signed executive orders directing federal agencies to explore AI applications and has promoted cryptocurrency adoption while rolling back many of the AI safety restrictions implemented during the previous administration.
