OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is planning on donating $1 million to president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, Fox News reported Friday. Altman’s gift comes after Trump already banked two major tech donations this week, with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and Amazon both donating $1 million toward Trump’s inauguration.
Altman’s contribution is different than the other tech giants, though, in that he’s personally making the donation, not the company he runs.
“President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead,” Altman said in statement to Fox News.
The donations come as Big Tech has looked to build a good rapport with Trump heading into his second term. Trump reportedly met with Sundar Pichai, the head of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, on Thursday, and he’s planning on meeting with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos next week. Pichai on Friday told Semafor he’s interested in being part of an artificial intelligence version of the “Manhattan Project” under Trump.
“I think there is a chance for us to work as a country together,” Pichai told the outlet. “These big, physical infrastructure projects to accelerate progress is something we would be very excited by.”
And when it comes to Trump’s relationship with tech, his bond with X and Tesla boss Elon Musk is the most obvious.
Musk donated more than $100 million to help Trump beat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election via his America PAC, the pro-Trump political action committee he launched. The world’s richest man — who has seen Tesla’s stock price surge 73% since Election Day — made several campaign appearances alongside Trump in the weeks leading up to the election. Earlier this week, following Tesla’s big stock rally and a new valuation for SpaceX, his rocket company, Musk’s net worth surpassed $400 billion.
