US President Donald Trump looks on as he attends the Presidents Cup golf tournament at Medinah Country Club, in Medinah Illinois, US, September 27, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
President Donald Trump put one CEO in a very "awkward" corner ahead of their Sunday night dinner date at the White House, according to a new report.
Reports indicate that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei dined with Trump on Sunday, just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping left a White House summit where he reportedly struck a deal with Trump to establish a safety channel for artificial intelligence systems between the two countries.
Trump told Fox News's Aishah Hasnie a little about what he planned to discuss with Amodei during dinner.
"We're going to talk about [AI]. I'm for, let's go and let's win. You know, we're about a year, maybe a year and a half up on China," Trump told Hasnie, as she relayed on her X account. "There is nobody in third place. I mean, it's just us in China. we're leading by quite a bit ... But I'll be speaking to Dario and others. We have, as you know, a very big meeting on Tuesday where everybody's coming in and that'll be very important.”
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the meeting also comes at an awkward time in the relationship between Anthropic and the Trump administration. Earlier this year, the Department of Defense declared Anthropic a national security risk and canceled the nine-figure contract it had with the AI firm.
A federal judge ruled last Friday that the Trump administration acted lawfully when it canceled the contract.
"The ruling left Anthropic in an awkward position, one that Dr. Amodei may have an opportunity to address with Mr. Trump on Sunday night," the Times reported.