Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Set for High-Stakes White House Dinner With President Donald Trump

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is scheduled to have a private, one-on-one dinner with US President Donald Trump at the White House. Confirmed by President Donald Trump, Sunday evening's meeting follows months of public tension between the artificial intelligence startup and the administration.

According to US media outlets like Axios, which initially broke the story, this will be the first direct meeting between the two figures. President Donald Trump verified the upcoming dinner and restated his opposition to decelerating artificial intelligence development, expressing concern that new regulations could allow China to surpass the United States in technological advancement.

While acknowledging Dario Amodei's worries that rushing artificial intelligence could increase risks, President Donald Trump emphasized the priority of maintaining America's technological advantage over China. Speaking to Fox News during the Presidents Cup golf tournament in Illinois, President Donald Trump stated, “We’re about maybe a year and a half up on China. We’re leading, and we’re building tremendous, trillions of dollars’ worth of places. And why should we give that up?”

The upcoming discussion takes place just two days after a federal appeals court upheld the Pentagon’s ruling to label Anthropic as a “supply chain risk,” barring the US military from utilizing its models. The administration previously sanctioned the startup when it declined requests in February to permit its tools for fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance. President Donald Trump also criticized Dario Amodei, accusing him of trying to act like “a perfect little angel” following calls for a temporary halt in artificial intelligence development.

Notably, Dario Amodei did not attend Thursday's state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping, an event that featured other artificial intelligence industry leaders, such as rival Sam Altman of OpenAI. Despite growing debates over the need to slow artificial intelligence growth to prevent a loss of control, the US government maintains that key industry players—including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta—must keep pushing forward to prevent China from securing the advantage. Additionally, President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are scheduled to convene with top artificial intelligence executives on Tuesday.