Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to Attend White House Dinner With Trump

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is set to attend a private White House dinner with President Donald Trump on Sunday evening, according to a person familiar with the meeting who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details publicly. The dinner marks a notable signal of potential cooperation between Anthropic and the White House, following months of escalating tension — and at times open hostility — between the company and administration officials. Timing Amid Broader AI Policy Discussions The meeting comes just days before Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are scheduled to meet Tuesday with leading artificial intelligence executives, as Congress faces mounting pressure from both industry and the public to establish regulatory guardrails around the rapidly advancing technology. A spokesperson for Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Axios first reported on the planned dinner. Amodei's Push for a Slower AI Development Pace Amid growing public concern over AI's potential risks, Amodei led industry calls earlier this month for a slowdown in AI development. His comments followed the resignation of former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who warned that AI companies were prioritizing competitive advantage over safety. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk both publicly endorsed similar calls for a more cautious pace. Trump, however, has continued to emphasize a pro-innovation approach to AI policy, repeatedly dismissing concerns about the technology's catastrophic risks as a hoax. A White House spokesperson said in a statement that Trump has been clear about America's intention to lead the world in what the administration refers to as "Super Intelligence" while protecting American consumers, emphasizing a focus on driving innovation, strengthening competitiveness, and ensuring the technology benefits the American public. A Rocky History Between Anthropic and the Administration Relations between Anthropic and the White House deteriorated earlier this year after the Pentagon designated the company a supply chain risk, following Anthropic's efforts to restrict the Defense Department's use of its Claude AI model. Anthropic subsequently filed suit against the administration over that designation. On Friday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Trump administration, allowing the White House to continue barring Anthropic from Pentagon contracts. That ruling came after a federal judge in California had sided with Anthropic last month in a separate lawsuit challenging the Pentagon's designation under a different military procurement law.