Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner

President Trump led leaders of the world’s biggest technology companies in a version of his cabinet meetings, in which each participant takes a turn thanking and praising him, this time for his efforts to promote investments in chip manufacturing and artificial intelligence. Tech titans including Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said “thank you” to the president, with some laying out how much their companies plan to invest in the U.S. The dinner underscored how closely the Trump administration has sought to work with technology-industry leaders on everything from domestic investment to AI education, as well as the industry’s eagerness to remain in the president’s good graces. Several of the executives, including Altman, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai and IBM CEO and Chairman Arvind Krishna, were at the White House earlier in the day to attend the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education roundtable, hosted by first lady Melania Trump. Companies including Microsoft, Nvidia, IBM, Amazon, Google and OpenAI announced AI education commitments in conjunction with the event.