Trump meets with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei for first discussion

President Trump hosted Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei for a private dinner on September 27, marking the first one-on-one meeting between two figures who have spent recent months on opposite sides of the AI safety debate. The sit-down came weeks after the Pentagon classified Anthropic as a “supply chain risk,” effectively banning the company’s models from military use. From public feuding to private dining Amodei recently published an essay advocating for a more cautious approach to AI development and deeper collaboration between AI companies and government regulators. Trump’s response was to double down on his position that the US needs to move fast, not slow, to keep its edge over China. Trump has previously stated the US leads China in AI by “maybe a year and a half.” In his view, pumping the brakes on development is equivalent to handing the lead to Beijing. Yet during the dinner, Trump reportedly described Amodei as “highly respected.” The compliment is notable given the context: just three days earlier, Amodei was conspicuously absent from a White House state dinner honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 24. That event drew a lineup of tech heavyweights including OpenA...