President Trump Brings Tech Leaders, CEOs to White House

President Donald Trump hosted a dinner for some of the biggest names in tech in the U.S. on Thursday, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was notably absent from the table but said on X that he was invited but could not attend, and sent a representative in his place.

Trump started the event by praising every person at the table as “brilliant” and part of a “high IQ group.”

“This is taking our country to a new level,” he stated.

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At the dinner, Trump asked each tech leader how much they planned to invest in the U.S. in the next few years. Zuckerberg said, “at least $600 billion by ’28 in the U.S.” Apple CEO Tim Cook made the same statement, while Pichai mentioned $250 billion overall, and Nadella stated that the figure could reach up to $80 billion per year.

“Good,” Trump said. “Very good.”

^{(Left to right) “AI and Crypto Czar” David Sacks, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, President Donald Trump, and First Lady Melania Trump at the White House dinner on Sept. 4. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images}

The dinner guest list, which the White House confirmed to the Associated Press, included Google cofounder Sergey Brin, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang, and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates.

During the meal, Trump congratulated Pichai on the recent news of the determined penalties in Google’s landmark antitrust case. The penalties were significantly lighter than what the DOJ had been seeking. For example, Google has to stop entering or maintaining exclusive distribution deals for Search, Chrome, and other products. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, added $230 billion to its market capitalization this week.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Pichai stated at the event, sparking laughter from other guests.

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Melania Trump Hosts AI Event

Before the dinner, on Thursday afternoon, First Lady Melania Trump hosted an event focused on AI in education. The First Lady said that it was critical to teach AI literacy from a young age to make sure the U.S. stayed competitive in that field.

The First Lady’s office started an “Age of AI” challenge last month for students to create projects using AI to address community challenges. Submissions are due in December.

“The robots are here,” Melania Trump stated at the afternoon event. “Our future is no longer science fiction.”