Washington: US President Donald Trump hosted an exclusive dinner at the White House on September 4, bringing together a select group of top technology executives to discuss artificial intelligence and national investment strategies. Describing the attendees as a “high-IQ group,” Trump emphasized their business acumen and technological influence, with notable figures including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The dinner notably excluded Elon Musk, Trump’s former ally and previous Department of Government Efficiency appointee, following a public fallout earlier this year. In contrast, Sam Altman, a rival in the AI sector, attended the event alongside other tech luminaries. Jared Isaacman, another former Musk associate whose NASA nomination had been withdrawn, was also present.

The gathering followed a White House meeting of the newly established AI education task force, chaired by First Lady Melania Trump in collaboration with tech leaders. During the dinner, Trump emphasized the importance of investment in addition to innovation, directly questioning executives on their US-based investment commitments. Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg each cited $600 billion, Sundar Pichai of Google reported $250 billion, while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed $80 billion in annual investment.

Other attendees included Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Greg Brockman, Safra Catz, David Limp, Sanjay Mehrotra, Vivek Ranadive, Shyam Sankar, and Alexandr Wang. Trump’s engagement with leading tech figures continues to spark discussion within the Republican Party, highlighting shifting alliances and the growing focus on AI and technological leadership in the United States.