US President-elect Donald Trump smiles at the crowd during the 146th General Convention and Exposition of the United States National Guard Association at Huntington Place Convention Center on August 26, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan.
Emily Elconen | Getty Images News | Getty Images
dead CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos They have a particularly mysterious past with the president-elect Donald Trump. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is locked in a heated legal battle with… Elon MuskWho has become one of Trump's biggest supporters and is expected to play a big role in his second administration.
All of this helps explain this week's announcements about donations to Trump's inauguration fund.
“President Trump will lead our country into the age of artificial intelligence, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead of the curve,” Altman said in a statement on Friday. The company confirmed that Altman said he plans to make a personal donation of $1 million to the fund.
dead The company confirmed to CNBC that it had donated $1 million to the inauguration, weeks after Zuckerberg dined privately with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Amazon It also plans to donate $1 million, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Trump has been a vocal critic of tech companies, and he is He pointed out Earlier this month he would not shy away from antitrust enforcement. The incoming president nominated Jill Slater, who advised Trump on technology policy during his first term, to head the Justice Department's antitrust arm.
“Big Tech has run amok for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using their market power to suppress the rights of many Americans, as well as the rights of small tech companies!” Trump wrote in a post dated December 4 Social truth Announcing Slater's nomination. “I was proud to fight these abuses in my first term, and the Department of Justice’s antitrust team will continue that work under Jill’s leadership.”
Some of Trump's most aggressive words in the past have been directed at Amazon and Meta.
In his first term, Trump repeatedly attacked Bezos and his companies, Amazon and The Washington Post, accusing them of evading taxes or spreading “fake news,” among other things. Trump He also pointed his finger repeatedly on Amazon for using the US Postal Service to deliver packages to customers, claiming the company contributed to the post office's budget problems.
The hostility went both ways. In 2019, Amazon Blame Trump's “behind-the-scenes” attacks against the company over its loss of the multibillion-dollar Department of Defense contract, then called JEDI. Before the 2016 election, Bezos criticized Trump's behavior, saying he was “undermining our democracy.” After then-Republican candidate Bezos accused Bezos of using the Washington Post as a “tax shelter,” Bezos, who also owns the space company Blue Origin, offered in a tweet to send Trump into space on one of his rockets.
Blue Origin is competing for government contracts with Musk's SpaceX.
At the DealBook Summit organized by The New York Times on December 4, Bezos He said he expects a friendlier regulatory environment in the next administration.
“I'm actually very optimistic this time,” Bezos said He said on stage. “He seems to have a lot of energy when it comes to deregulation. If I can help do that, I will help him.”
Trump has called Bezos “Jeff Bozo.” His preferred nickname for Meta's CEO is “Zuckerschmuck”.
After Trump lost the 2020 election, he filed a lawsuit Facebook, twitter and Googleas well as their respective CEOs in the class action lawsuits. All three companies pulled Trump's accounts from their platforms following the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.
Trump has long accused Facebook of silencing conservative voices. And in the month of March he rose Named The platform is an “enemy of the people, along with much of the media,” in an interview on CNBC's “Squawk Box.”
Now that Trump is back in the White House and he's feeling great musk, The rest of the tech sector appears eager to gain support. apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai And all others He was publicly congratulated Trump after his victory in November.
Microsoft declined to comment on whether it would contribute to the inauguration ceremony. Representatives for Apple and Google did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.
For OpenAI and Altman, the concerns are a bit different. Altman and Musk were co-founders of OpenAI, which was initially a non-profit. The two have since publicly parted ways, with Altman remaining as CEO of OpenAI and Musk starting a competing AI company called xAI.
In March, musk File a lawsuit against OpenAI — and co-founders Altman and Greg Brockman — are alleging breach of contract and fiduciary duty. He claimed that the project had been transformed into a for-profit entity largely controlled by major shareholder Microsoft, and is suing to thwart the change in structure.
OpenAI Clap again On Friday, claiming in Blog post Titled “Elon Musk wanted a for-profit OpenAI Foundation,” in 2017, “Musk didn’t just want a for-profit organization, he actually created one” to serve as the company’s proposed new structure.
Altman's next concern is that Musk has overspent 250 million dollars To help boost Trump's campaign, he is now poised to help lead the Government Efficiency Department. In this role, Musk could influence how AI is regulated in ways that benefit his business.
On December 5, Trump Announce Venture investor and podcaster David Sachs, a friend of Musk, will do just that. joins The Trump administration has been dubbed the White House's “AI and Cryptocurrency Czar.”
He watches: Trump's government will have more billionaires than any government in history
