Trump praises Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei after private dinner

President Donald Trump said he came away with a more favorable view of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei after the pair met privately for dinner, marking a notable change in tone after months of tension between the AI company and his administration.

“I liked him and his wife a lot,” Trump told Time Magazine in an interview published Thursday, describing Amodei as “very smart” and saying he was somewhat different from what Trump had expected.

The dinner on Sunday was the first private meeting between Trump and Amodei following a dispute between Anthropic and the Defense Department over restrictions the company placed on military uses of its AI models.

The Pentagon designated Anthropic a national security supply chain risk in March after the company declined to remove safeguards restricting uses including autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. 

A federal appeals court upheld the designation in a 2-1 ruling last week. Anthropic has challenged the decision and said it is considering further legal action.

Trump and Amodei met again Tuesday alongside executives from OpenAI, Google, Meta, xAI and Nvidia at a broader White House gathering focused on AI safety.

The companies signed a voluntary accord committing them to internal safety controls, independent external audits and board-level oversight of risks including cybersecurity and biosecurity. 

Trump has favored voluntary industry measures over broader mandatory restrictions, arguing that excessive regulation could slow US development relative to China.

Amodei has taken a different position on some of those risks, repeatedly calling for stronger safeguards as AI systems become more capable. Trump nevertheless indicated after their dinner that the two had found more common ground than he expected.

“If you’re going to seek regulation, they can put you out of business,” Trump said while recounting the discussion, adding that his priority was maintaining the US lead in AI.

The president also left open the possibility of the US government taking equity stakes in major AI companies. 

Asked whether he could pursue arrangements with OpenAI or Anthropic similar to the government’s investment in Intel, Trump said such a move was possible, though there is no indication either company has agreed to or is discussing such a transaction.

Trump also praised OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who was not at Tuesday’s White House meeting, calling both Altman and Amodei highly intelligent.

The softer rhetoric toward Amodei comes just days after Trump publicly confirmed plans to meet him while reiterating his opposition to slowing AI development. At the time, Trump said maintaining the US technological advantage over China remained his central concern.