OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to Attend Trump Dinner With Chinese President Xi Jinping

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is set to attend a White House state dinner hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump for Chinese President Xi Jinping next week. OpenAI confirmed Altman’s attendance on Wednesday, September 16, ahead of Xi’s planned visit to Washington on September 24. The dinner is expected to bring together prominent American business leaders as Trump hosts the Chinese president.

Altman is expected to be joined by other major technology executives, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Apple Executive Chairman Tim Cook is also expected to attend, according to Bloomberg.

Altman’s presence comes at a particularly important time for the global artificial intelligence industry. The United States and China are competing for leadership in advanced AI, while both governments are also navigating broader disagreements involving trade, technology and national security.

The dinner could therefore bring together some of the most influential figures in the AI industry alongside the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.

Altman has recently been involved in discussions about how quickly frontier AI systems should be developed and what safety measures should accompany increasingly powerful models.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia’s Huang have taken positions emphasizing continued AI development, while Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have recently been associated with calls for greater attention to safety and the pace of frontier-model development.

Altman’s invitation highlights the growing importance of major technology companies in U.S.-China relations. OpenAI has become one of the world’s most prominent AI companies through ChatGPT and its increasingly advanced AI models. Meanwhile, China has been rapidly developing its own AI ecosystem, intensifying competition between the two countries.

The state dinner will take place during Xi’s planned September 24 visit to Washington. Other business leaders are also expected to participate, although the final guest list could change before the event.

The gathering will put Altman at the table with Trump and Xi at a time when artificial intelligence has become increasingly intertwined with economic competition, technology policy and national security.