Dario Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic, is scheduled to join President Donald Trump for a private White House dinner on Sunday, marking the first direct meeting between the two. The invitation follows Amodei’s absence from the recent state dinner honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping, an event that featured several other technology CEOs. A source familiar with the arrangement said a scheduling conflict prompted the president to extend a separate invitation.
The dinner comes at a critical juncture for Anthropic, which is widely expected to launch a high-profile initial public offering. Relations with the Trump administration have been uneasy for much of the past year, and the private meeting may provide an opportunity to smooth those frictions. A White House official told CNBC that the administration wants America to lead in super-intelligence while protecting consumers and strengthening competitiveness.
Earlier this month Amodei publicly urged the AI sector to decelerate the development of advanced models and outlined a three-step plan for greater oversight. The proposal drew criticism from President Trump, who posted on Truth Social that the only guardrails needed are a “strong and smart” president and that Amodei was “pretending to be a perfect little angel.” The call for a slowdown was supported by peers such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk.
Amodei’s political stance added another layer of tension; he backed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and has been an outspoken critic of Trump. Nevertheless, the relationship appeared to improve when Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick temporarily placed export controls on two of Anthropic’s most advanced models in June, later describing the company as “back on the right side.” Co-founder Tom Brown has since taken the lead in negotiations with the Commerce Department.
Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the administration is in a “good cadence” with Anthropic and noted that the firm is actively sharing its models under the president’s voluntary AI executive order. This cooperation contrasts with the more contentious dialogue the company has had with other parts of the government.
Negotiations with the Department of Defense collapsed in February after the Pentagon demanded unrestricted access to Anthropic’s models, while the company sought assurances that its technology would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass surveillance. The DOD subsequently labeled Anthropic a supply-chain risk, barring military and contractor use. Anthropic sued to overturn the designation, but a federal appeals panel upheld the Pentagon’s decision, leaving the company to consider a rehearing or a Supreme Court petition.
Defense Secretary Hegseth accused Anthropic of “duplicity” and claimed the firm tried to “strong-arm the United States military into submission” after talks fell apart. In response, Michael Kratsios posted on social media that “the hammer of justice has smashed @AnthropicAI arguments,” reinforcing the administration’s stance that the company poses a risk to the defense industrial base.