Trump had private dinner with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei

President Trump hosted a private dinner with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei late Sunday night. The White House has not disclosed the topics covered during the dinner. This comes as Amodei has been vocal about the rapid advancement of AI and the need for industry safeguards. Trump, however, opposes the idea of regulating AI, emphasizing that in the U.S.-China AI race, whoever leads in AI would be the victor.

Before the dinner, Trump mentioned that the two were going to discuss AI regulations, stating he was "for let's go and let's win." He added that the U.S. is currently about a year or a year and a half ahead of China in AI development, with no other country in third place. The dinner was first reported by Axios. The news also revealed that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to establish an AI safety channel to address potential issues between their countries.

Trump is set to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson and other AI executives at the White House on Tuesday. Amodei is not expected to attend, though Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown is anticipated to be present. Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI technology, and the Trump administration have had a contentious relationship.

The Pentagon has recently classified Anthropic as a supply chain risk due to concerns about the company's technology being used for mass surveillance or developing fully autonomous weapons. This designation was upheld by a judge earlier this month. Despite most tech CEOs welcoming Trump, Amodei has previously dismissed him as a "leftwing nut job."

In an interview with CBS News, Amodei stated that he did not realize the rapid pace of AI progress when he first joined Anthropic.