Apple CEO Tim Cook is back at the White House less than a month after gifting Donald Trump a custom glass plaque mounted on 24k gold. This time, the focus is artificial intelligence, not iPhone glass.
On Thursday, Trump will host two dozen technology and business leaders for the first major gathering in the newly renovated Rose Garden. The guest list includes Cook, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and several other Silicon Valley figures. The dinner follows an earlier White House AI event hosted by First Lady Melania Trump.
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Big Tech Meets Trump on AI
The Hill reported that attendees include Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Blue Origin CEO David Limp, and Micron Technology’s Sanjay Mehrotra. OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Palantir’s Shyam Sankar, Scale.ai founder Alexandr Wang, and venture capitalist David Sacks, now serving as the administration’s point man on AI and cryptocurrency, are also expected.
One notable absence is Elon Musk, who clashed with Trump earlier this year after briefly serving as a government adviser. His exclusion signals the rift remains unresolved.
According to a White House statement shared with The Hill, spokesperson Davis Ingle described the Rose Garden as “the hottest place to be in Washington, or perhaps the world,” calling the dinner the first of many planned for the redesigned space.
The timing of Cook’s return has not gone unnoticed. In August, Apple pledged a $600 billion U.S. investment, including a $2.5 billion expansion of Corning’s Kentucky glass plant. During that announcement, Cook presented Trump with the gold-mounted glass gift, which critics described as an overture for tariff relief.
Several companies have adjusted internal policies to align more closely with the Trump administration, scaling back diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Zuckerberg, Pichai, and Altman attended Trump’s inauguration, while Cook has made repeated White House visits tied to U.S. manufacturing commitments.
The question now is whether the AI discussions produce real policy shifts or serve as another high-profile photo opportunity. For Cook, the Kentucky deal gives him leverage. For Trump, the Rose Garden dinner is a chance to frame Big Tech cooperation as part of his America First agenda.
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