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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon plan to donate $1 million each to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund. Fox and The The Wall Street Journal.
TechCrunch confirmed Altman’s plans to personally pay the money, which did not come directly from OpenAI.
Donations from billionaires match the plans Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta will also donate $1 million America’s most powerful tech leaders to Trump’s inauguration fund as they cozy up to the incoming administration. Inauguration funds are used for events related to the inauguration of the president in January.
The magazine reports that Amazon’s donation comes as the company’s chief executive, Bezos, heads to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump next week. Bezos and Trump have had a strained relationship in the past. During his first term, Trump repeatedly criticized Amazon’s business practices and attacked Bezos-owned The Washington Post for criticizing his administration.
This time, Bezos made a concerted effort to restore those ties. Bezos blocked The Post endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency and congratulated Trump on his “extraordinary political turnaround” at X.
Altman, who has yet to face Trump’s public criticism, told TechCrunch: “President Trump will lead our country into the age of artificial intelligence, and I’m eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead.”
Silicon Valley largely expects Trump to ease its approach to artificial intelligence regulation, which they say is necessary for the United States to remain globally competitive. Although Altman has no acquaintance with Trump, the OpenAI founder is in the midst of a legal battle with Elon Musk, another close Trump ally. OpenAI’s transition attempts to a for-profit company.
