Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to dine with Trump Sunday

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei will sit down with President Donald Trump for dinner on Sunday, according to a person familiar with the matter. The meeting, first reported by Axios, marks the first one-on-one between the two men, and it arrives at a moment when Amodei's push for government oversight of frontier AI has been publicly dismissed by the president. A White House official told Business Insider that Trump remains focused on American leadership in what he calls "Super Intelligence," saying, "We will drive innovation, strengthen American competitiveness, and ensure this transformative technology works for the American people." The dinner is a striking reversal from the tone Trump set just weeks ago, when he mocked Amodei on Truth Social, calling him a "perfect little angel" and claiming his administration had stopped AI "people" from doing "bad, or potentially bad, 'things.'" That post, dated September 14, came as Amodei's calls for a coordinated slowdown among frontier AI companies have largely fallen flat among Washington power brokers. Amodei was notably absent from a White House summit held last week during Chinese leader Xi Jinping's visit to the US, a gathering that included other tech executives. The dinner could signal a shift in how the administration engages with AI leaders, or it could be an attempt to bring a vocal critic into the fold. For Amodei, the stakes are high: he has been one of the most prominent voices warning about the risks of unregulated AI, and a face-to-face with Trump offers a chance to press his case directly. But it also risks legitimizing an administration that has shown little appetite for the kind of oversight Amodei has advocated. The meeting comes as Trump announced a new "AI force" last week, which he said will "watch over" the industry, though no further details have emerged. He also said he would name a new "AI Czar," but has not yet done so, and clarified that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is not in contention. For other AI executives, the dinner is a signal that personal relationships with the president may matter more than policy positions. Amodei's previous interaction with Trump was at an AI and energy summit in Pennsylvania last year, where he said they "had a good conversation about US leadership in AI." That history suggests the two can find common ground, even if their public statements have diverged. The dinner also underscores the growing importance of AI as a political issue, with Trump eager to claim credit for American leadership in the technology while avoiding regulatory constraints. For Amodei, the challenge is to influence policy without being co-opted. The outcome of Sunday's dinner could set the tone for how the administration handles AI regulation in the coming months, and whether other tech leaders who have pushed for guardrails will find a receptive audience. For now, the menu is unknown, but the conversation will likely shape the future of AI policy in Washington.