Apple absent from White House AI summit as tech CEOs meet Trump
President Trump hosted a lunch with CEOs of major AI firms, but Apple executives were not in attendance, prompting speculation about the company's AI strategy.
President Donald Trump held a White House lunch on Tuesday with leaders of several leading artificial-intelligence companies, but no Apple representative was present. Neither Executive Chairman Tim Cook nor new CEO John Ternus attended, and both Apple and the White House declined to comment on the omission.
Altimeter Capital chief Brad Gerstner, a frequent Trump supporter, described Apple’s non-attendance as insignificant, saying, "I can assure you, they're very much read in on all of this, and I suspect they agree with all of it."
Cook, who stepped down as CEO in September, remains responsible for engaging policymakers worldwide. He recently appeared at a state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping, underscoring his ongoing diplomatic role.
Analysts note that Apple’s AI efforts focus on smaller, on-device models that power features such as Siri, contrasting with the large-scale models showcased by OpenAI, Anthropic and others at the lunch. Apple collaborates with Google on model development and its capital spending on AI is modest compared to the multibillion-dollar investments of Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Nvidia.
The meeting concluded with an industry accord on AI safety, signed by executives from Nvidia, OpenAI, Meta, Google and Anthropic. Apple has not publicly participated in discussions on AI alignment or safety, and its executives have historically limited statements to issues directly affecting the company.