The Pulse
Trump Hosts Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei for Late White House Dinner
President Trump dined privately with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei at the White House late Sunday, their first one-on-one meeting, after months of conflict over AI safety and the Pentagon’s supply-chain designation. Amodei is due at a Tuesday
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
President Donald Trump had a private dinner with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei at the White House late Sunday, the first one-on-one meeting between the two men. Axios first reported the plan earlier in the day, citing people familiar with it, and Trump confirmed the dinner himself. White House officials have not released details of what was discussed, CBS News reported.
“We’re going to talk about it”
Before the meal, Trump told Fox News White House correspondent Aishah Hasnie that he planned to discuss AI with Amodei, and framed the subject around the race with China.
“We're going to talk about it. I'm for let's go and let's win. We're about a year, maybe a year and a half up on China. There is nobody in third place. It's just us and China.”
Donald Trump, President of the United States, speaking to Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie
Arriving back at Joint Base Andrews from the Presidents Cup golf tournament in Illinois, Trump told reporters the dinner was set for 10 p.m. “Tonight I'm having dinner with the head of Anthropic,” he said. “So these are long days, but I seem to be able to handle it.”
An invitation after the state dinner
Amodei missed Thursday’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping, where tech executives including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg joined Trump. He had a scheduling conflict, and Trump then invited him personally to a private dinner, Axios and CNBC reported, each citing a source familiar with the plans.
Asked about the dinner, a White House official gave a general statement on AI policy rather than an agenda: “President Trump has been clear: America will lead the world in Super Intelligence, while protecting American consumers.”
A year of friction with the administration
The meeting follows months of conflict. Talks between Anthropic and the Pentagon collapsed in February, after the company sought assurance that its models would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance, and the Defense Department then labeled Anthropic a supply-chain risk, CNBC reported. On Friday a federal appeals court sided with the Pentagon in a 2-1 ruling, allowing the department to keep designating Anthropic a supply-chain risk for procurement purposes.
Earlier this month Amodei published an essay arguing that “we must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models,” and called for more government oversight. Trump answered on Truth Social, accusing Amodei of “pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel’”. Trump has rejected calls to slow AI development, arguing the United States must stay ahead of China.
Tuesday’s White House lunch
Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are due to meet AI executives at the White House on Tuesday. Amodei will attend that lunch, CBS News reported, citing a source directly familiar with his plans. Politico, as cited by Fox News, reported that Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are also expected.