Overview

• The dinner, planned for the newly renovated Rose Garden, was moved to the State Dining Room because of rain.
• Attendees included Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai and Sam Altman, who publicly praised the president during a roundtable-style program.
• Executives cited large U.S. spending plans, with Zuckerberg and Cook each pointing to $600 billion, Pichai citing $250 billion and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella saying up to $80 billion per year.
• The event followed First Lady Melania Trump’s inaugural AI Education Task Force meeting, where companies highlighted workforce and learning initiatives, including Google’s $150 million for AI education.
• Elon Musk was a conspicuous absentee, with the White House saying he was not on the invite list while Musk posted that he was invited but could not attend.