The White House’s Rose Garden is getting a makeover — and a dose of Silicon Valley glamour. On Thursday night, President Donald Trump is set to host a high-profile dinner featuring some of the biggest names in technology, from Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The gathering, part social, part strategic, comes on the heels of a White House meeting on AI education, chaired by First Lady Melania Trump. “During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children — empowering, but with watchful guidance,” she said, emphasizing the nation’s responsibility to prepare the next generation. Several dinner attendees are expected to participate in shaping that educational initiative.
Who’s at the Table — and Who Isn’t
The guest list reads like a who’s who of artificial intelligence and corporate power: Google founders Sergey Brin and Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI leaders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, and other executives spanning aerospace, AI startups, and fintech.
Notably absent is Elon Musk, once a close ally of Trump. Their public fallout earlier this year means the SpaceX and Tesla magnate will skip the evening. Trump’s former NASA nominee Jared Isaacman, who maintains ties to Musk, will attend instead, highlighting shifting alliances in Washington’s tech-politics ecosystem.
From Mar-a-Lago to Pennsylvania Avenue
Observers have noted that the Rose Garden’s new setup — tables, chairs, and umbrellas — closely mirrors Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, signaling a familiar aesthetic even in the heart of Washington. “The Rose Garden Club at the White House is the hottest place to be in Washington, or perhaps the world,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said.
For attendees, the dinner is more than a chance to dine in presidential surroundings. It offers a rare convergence of government policy and technological influence at a time when artificial intelligence continues to reshape the global economy.
A Strategic Evening
While the setting is casual, the stakes are not. The dinner follows the AI Education task force meeting, and conversations are expected to touch on regulation, innovation, and educational priorities. As AI increasingly defines both opportunity and risk, Trump’s gathering may signal a continued effort to link political influence with the tech sector — a move likely to reverberate well beyond Thursday night.
