AI CEOs Predictably Suck Up to Trump Amid ‘AI Pause’ Debate

Artificial Intelligence AI CEOs Predictably Suck Up to Trump Amid ‘AI Pause’ Debate OpenAI CEO Sam Altman requested a private meeting with Trump last week, while Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dialed up him on stage at an event. 14, 2026, pm ET Reading time 2 minutes Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (R) speaks alongside US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2025. © Photo /AFP via Read Later Read Later Comments (5) The tradition of tech CEOs bending the knee to Donald Trump continues, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang both taking turns with the shameless flattery. Per MS Now, Trump “met privately… backstage” with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the Republican midterm convention, at Altman’s request, last Thursday. MS Now’s only other insight into the conversation was that it concerned the growing power of AI—not exactly a shocker—and that it preceded Altman’s endorsement of a blog post this last weekend from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calling for a controlled slowdown of AI development. On Monday, Trump sent out a post accusing Amodei of “pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel,’” imagining a “SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers,” and rejecting calls for any kind of pause. “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!” Trump added. Also on Monday, The Verge reported, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took a call from Trump on stage at the All-In Podcast’s All-In Summit. So, make of his posts what you will. As The Conversation noted, there are several reasons to be skeptical of the AI firms’ motivations here. A pause could be a strategic industry proposal to make the most stringent proposals, such as the Sen. Bernie Sanders-led Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, seem unnecessary. Safety standards or export controls, whether via Congress or executive fiat, could raise expenses for smaller or foreign competitors. Anthropic’s recent claims to a second straight quarter of profitability depend on “adjusted operating income,” which specifically excludes training costs, which is generally the top expenditure for AI firms. (xAI, for example, spent several times its revenue on training and infrastructure costs last year.) Altman, who has also endorsed the pause, delayed OpenAI’s planned IPO over supposed safety risks—although The New Stack noted that a “plausible alternative incentive” (i. e., ulterior motive) is that OpenAI is “hemorrhaging cash in an extremely resource-intensive business” and looking to cut costs. Huang, whose firm’s path to adding more trillions to its market cap relies on shipping high volumes of AI GPUs, is no doubt laughing all the way to the bank.