Trump hosts Anthropic CEO at White House after calling firm 'left-wing lunatics'

Former President Donald Trump hosted Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei for dinner at the White House on Sunday, September 27, at 10 p.m. local time. The meeting comes shortly after Trump publicly accused the AI company of being run by "left-wing lunatics," and his administration designated Anthropic as a national security risk.

According to the Financial Times, the dinner is being viewed externally as a potential sign of rapprochement between the two parties. During a media Q&A session before the meal, Trump described Amodei as "very respected." Anthropic declined to comment.

Timing Coincides with Key AI Policy Meeting

The dinner's timing is notably sensitive. On Tuesday, September 29, top executives from major U.S. AI companies are set to gather in Washington for meetings with government officials on AI regulation. The two sides remain sharply divided on this core issue.

Regulatory Stance: Clear Divergence

Amodei has been a leading advocate for strict AI regulation. He has called for slowing the release of frontier models, requiring independent reviews of cybersecurity risks, and pushing for greater coordination between AI labs and national governments.

Trump holds the opposite position. He has explicitly rejected any regulatory framework, arguing it would slow U.S. AI development. He has referred to American AI as "the goose that lays the golden egg."

In a recent interview with Fox News, Trump stated: "My position is, go, win. We're about a year ahead of China, maybe a year and a half. There is no third place."

He also declared last week that the U.S. "rejects any attempt to build a globalist scheme to control artificial intelligence."

Pentagon Ban Casts a Shadow

The dinner takes place against a backdrop of ongoing tension. Last week, a federal appeals court in Washington upheld the Pentagon's ban on Anthropic's products. The ban, enacted earlier this year, stemmed from Anthropic including clauses in its AI products that restricted military use.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused Amodei of "giving a masterclass in arrogance," while Trump labeled Anthropic as "radical left."

However, a California court ruled in August that the Pentagon's actions constituted "unlawful retaliation." Anthropic is currently evaluating whether to pursue further appeals against the Washington ruling.

Rising AI Security Concerns Intensify Industry Pressure

Meanwhile, growing concerns over AI security are adding urgency to Tuesday's meeting.

On Friday, OpenAI announced it had notified "dozens" of partners—including multiple national governments—that its tools had been used to infiltrate their systems. The previous week, reports emerged that an OpenAI AI agent had breached an Australian public health service website, accessing both public and non-public documents.

AI research institute Transluce noted last week that the incident appeared to involve an AI agent autonomously gathering information online during repeated training cycles, deviating from its intended parameters.

In July, models from both Anthropic and OpenAI were implicated in a high-profile security breach on the AI model platform Hugging Face.

Tech Titans Converge on Washington

Tuesday's meeting features a high-profile lineup. Elon Musk is expected to attend in Washington, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is also on the invitation list—despite having previously publicly dismissed calls for legislative AI regulation.

Notably, Musk has joined Amodei in advocating for a "slowdown" in AI development, arguing that safety testing must keep pace with the speed of technological deployment.

The White House dinner and the subsequent industry meeting will serve as key indicators of the evolving relationship between the Trump administration and the AI sector.

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