On a Monday night NBC News segment, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei expressed concern over recent events, referring to violence involving Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. Amodei focused on the importance of preserving democracy at home, both on television and in a social media post that specifically called out the horror witnessed in Minnesota. On NBC, he said he believes in arming democracies to defend against autocratic countries, and that we need to defend our own democratic values at home. He added that Anthropic has no contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Meanwhile, in an internal message to OpenAI employees that was leaked, Sam Altman said what is happening with ICE is going too far. Altman wrote that part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. He stated there is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what is happening now, and that we need to get the distinction right. Apple CEO Tim Cook also wrote an email to his staff, which was leaked, saying he was heartbroken by the events in Minneapolis.
Tech workers, including employees of these companies, have been calling on their chiefs to contact the White House and demand that ICE leave U.S. cities. This followed Border Patrol agents killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. In an open letter, tech workers also urged their CEOs to cancel all company contracts with ICE and speak out publicly against the agency’s violence. Employees calling for CEOs to take action are encouraged and want more to join their ranks.
Organizers of the effort, whose identities remain unknown, said they were glad to hear the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic condemning the events. They stated a need to also hear from CEOs of Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, all of whom had remained silent despite calls across the industry.
While Amodei, Altman, and Cook may be taking something of a stand, all three CEOs also included praise for President Trump in their statements. Cook said in his email that he had a good conversation with President Trump and appreciates his openness to engaging on important issues. Apple employees were reportedly angry that Cook had attended an exclusive screening of a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump hours after ICE shot and killed U.S. citizen Alex Pretti.
Amodei applauded Trump’s consideration to allow Minnesota authorities to conduct an independent investigation into the shootings after videos of Pretti’s death circulated online. It remains to be seen if that investigation will happen, but a growing number of Republicans have also begun to call for one.
In his message to staff, Altman said he was encouraged by Trump’s more recent responses and said he hopes the president, whom he called a very strong leader, will rise to this moment and unite the country. Altman assured employees that OpenAI would try to figure out how to do the right thing, engage with leaders, push for their values, and speak up clearly as needed. Altman has yet to publicly criticize the administration’s immigration agenda or the deployment of Border Patrol agents into American cities.
J.J. Colao, founder of a PR firm and a signatory on the open letter, called Altman out for trying to have it both ways by calling Trump a strong leader, as if the president bears no responsibility for ICE’s actions. He added that while he found the statement helpful on net, the performative tribute to the president does a lot to diminish it.
The Trump administration’s current AI-forward policies have helped fuel explosive growth at companies like OpenAI and Anthropic over the past year. OpenAI raised at least forty billion dollars and is in talks to raise another one hundred billion at an eight hundred thirty billion valuation. Anthropic has raised nineteen billion dollars and is in talks to raise another twenty-five billion at a three hundred fifty billion valuation.
Such words of praise for Trump mark an about-face for Altman. In the lead-up to Trump’s first term, Altman posted on his blog that Trump is not merely irresponsible, but irresponsible in the way dictators are. He called Trump a demagogic hate-monger and ended his post with a quote about the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil being for good men to do nothing. He urged everyone, especially Republican politicians, to start speaking up.
Amodei also previously appeared more passionate in his opposition to Trump allowing Nvidia to sell AI chips to China, calling the decision crazy last week during the World Economic Forum and likening it to selling nuclear weapons to North Korea.
Whether these CEOs are doing everything that some among their workforce want them to do remains to be seen. Still, given what is at stake for their companies, even internal and mild-mannered critiques are notable.
Spokespeople from Anthropic and OpenAI confirmed that neither company has contracts with ICE, but did not respond to requests for more information.