Trump Hosts Top Tech CEOs at White House Dinner, Elon Musk Not Invited

President Donald Trump hosted a dinner for leading tech executives at the White House on Thursday night, bringing together top figures from artificial intelligence and technology companies.

The guest list included Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google founders Sergey Brin and Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, and other industry leaders.

A notable absence was Elon Musk, a former Trump ally. Musk publicly broke ties with the president earlier this year after Trump appointed one of Musk’s associates, Jared Isaacman, to lead NASA — a nomination that was later revoked.

The dinner was initially planned for the Rose Garden, where Trump had recently installed tables, chairs, and umbrellas resembling those at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Rain forced the event indoors to the State Dining Room, according to a White House official who spoke anonymously.

The dinner followed a meeting of the White House’s new Artificial Intelligence Education task force, chaired by First Lady Melania Trump. Leaders including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, and Code.org President Cameron Wilson participated.

“The robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction,” the first lady said at the event, emphasizing both the promise and potential risks of AI. She highlighted the need for responsible development and parental-style guidance for AI technologies.

Trump has actively embraced AI, sharing AI-generated images and videos on social media, despite expressing concern earlier this week about misleading content created with the technology.

The president signed the “Take It Down Act” in May, which imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation using both real and AI-generated imagery. The first lady also recently launched a nationwide AI contest for K-12 students to demonstrate AI’s benefits and community applications.

Trump’s engagement with tech leaders comes amid growing debates within the Republican Party over AI regulation. Senator Josh Hawley criticized major tech firms at a conservative conference on Thursday, calling for closer government oversight of AI systems.