Trump-Xi dinner guests included Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and more

It was just a fun little dinner for the people deciding the future of humanity. The amount of power concentrated at the head table alone was dizzying. The US president and the Chinese president, dining by candlelight with Elon Musk, Jensen Huang and Tim Cook, all of them sitting in the state diningroom of the White House at this moment that many in Silicon Valley warn could be the last before humanity stumbles into the AI apocalypse.Standing before a room chockablock with AI moguls, billionaires and politicians, US president Donald Trump decided to depart from his prepared remarks. Now that he finally had these people together in one place, he could talk about his important plans. The ones he’s been working on nonstop ever since he returned to the White House.“If I could go off-script, just for a second,” he said.The sound of rich people clapping filled the room. Suspense!READ MORE“I just want to say ...” the president continued.“ ... I’d like to invite everyone in the room to visit through that beautiful curtain in the back – The door, it’s all lit up, and looks beautiful. It’s one year away from completion, the new ballroom that you’ve heard about.”Oh. He was inviting them to take a walk through the construction site in back of the house.[ Donald Trump and Xi Jinping strike warm tone at White House as US-China tensions remainOpens in new window ]“You’ll be the first people to step foot on that,” he told guests including Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman, “and we’ll do that maybe after we’re finished with the entertainment tonight.”There was not a single mention of AI in his speech. Trump doesn’t buy into the AI panic. He insists it’s mostly just a problem of branding. AI needs better PR.Elon Musk with Melania Trump, left, during a state dinner at the White House in Washington on Thursday. Photograph: Doug Mills/The New York Times OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su, her husband Daniel Lin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, his wife Lori Huang and Apple's chairman of the board Tim Cook. Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images If any of the tech titans and members of Chinese Politburo who showed up to the White House used the state visit to get on the same page about the direction of this terrifying new technology, they haven’t shared their designs with the public. This was a roomful of people who have many disagreements about the way forward.The US president, for his part, just seemed happy to be playing maître d’ to the mighty.“You will see something that I think you will really love,” Trump told them about the ballroom site. “Tonight, if we had it, we would have had way more than a thousand people, with standing room only. And this room has about 145, that’s about it.”“Anybody who wants to walk into a construction site that’s nice and clean and sparkling, it’s our honour to have you do so,” he said. “This is in honour of president Xi, madam Peng.”Trump never seems more pleased than when he is hosting wealthy and powerful people at his table. The aspects of the job that so clearly delight him concern pageantry and set design, and Xi’s visit provided opportunities for plenty of it.Earlier in the day, Trump took Xi around the back to show off a new helipad and the slick new driveway. “He’s an expert on stone, aside from many others, and he loves good granite,” Trump told reporters as the pair walked back inside.Xi announced a gift of two giant pandas, named Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, who will live at the Atlanta zoo. At the dinner, Trump unveiled a rather large statue of a bald eagle to give to the Chinese autocrat.“We hope it’ll find a nice place, a wonderful place, in Beijing,” Trump said.Sadly for Trump, almost none of this made it on to the television networks he watches so closely. The Chinese state visit has collided with the consequences of the decision he made in a fit of pique last Friday to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House campus. A judge ordered the Trump administration to let the banned reporters back Thursday, but the TV networks are still refusing to take Trump’s carnival live. Until his administration formally agrees to let CNN back into the White House TV pool rotation, he is not going to see those blinking red lights he loves so much.Shortly before the dinner began, he posted one of his diatribes on his website.CNN and MS NOW were “fake,” he wrote, because they wouldn’t cover “one of the Biggest and Most Beautiful Events to take place in many years, the arrival at the White House of the Highly Respected President of China, Xi Jinping, and his beautiful wife, Madam Peng.”The president continued: “The event was magnificent – Actually made for Television but, because they’re Fake News, and because they knew how good it would be, they didn’t want credit to be given to ‘TRUMP,’ they refused to be there. That’s why they have such poor Ratings.”He concluded: “Tonight’s State Dinner at the White House, for President Xi, will be spectacular! The Media will be in attendance.”Yes, the White House complex was crawling with journalists Thursday evening as Xi pulled up to the front door of the residence. But, in the spirit of solidarity with those targeted by Trump’s ban, some just ignored the spectacle.Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. Photograph:AP The US Army Herald Trumpets performing as the car carrying China's oresident Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan arrives at the White House. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Who was at the state dinner for president Xi?American tech executives and Chinese officials were among the more than 130 guests at a state dinner for President Xi Jinping’s visit to White House on Thursday. Tech titans including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman and Tim Cook made appearances at the event, hosted by President Donald Trump and Melania Trump. Here is the list of invitees provided by the White House:US president Donald Trump and Melania TrumpChina’s president Xi Jinping of China and Peng LiyuanUS vice president JD Vance and Usha VanceUS secretary of state Marco Rubio and Jeanette RubioSusie Wiles, White House chief of staffDavid Perdue, ambassador to China, and Bonnie PerdueUS treasury secretary Scott Bessent and John FreemanUS defence secretary Pete HegsethJamieson Greer, US trade representative, and Marlo GreerCai Qi, chief of staff to XiWang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign AffairsHe Lifeng, vice premier of state councilZheng Shanjie, chair of the National Development and Reform CommissionWang Wentao, minister of commerceMa Zhaoxu, executive vice minister of foreign affairsAmbassador Xie Feng, Chinese ambassador to the United States, and Wang DanIvanka TrumpEric TrumpLara TrumpTiffany Trump and Michael BoulosViktor KnavsArabella KushnerJensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, and Lori HuangMark Zuckerberg, CEO of MetaLisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, and Daniel LinTim Cook, executive chair of AppleJohn FW Rogers, executive vice president of Goldman SachsLynn Martin, president of the New York Stock ExchangeLinda G Mills, president of New York UniversityEric Yuan, CEO of ZoomTang Fangyu, director of the Central Policy Research Office of the Communist Party of China Central CommitteeLan Fo’an, China’s finance ministerZhou Hongxu, director of the Central Security BureauLyu Luhua, secretary to XiHong Lei, director general, Protocol DepartmentCai Wei, director general, Department of North American and Oceanian AffairsMao Ning, director general, Department of Press, Communication and Public Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign AffairsZhang Quan, secretary to PengZhang Yongchao, deputy director general, Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs, Ministry of Foreign AffairsKelly Ortberg, CEO of BoeingLarry Fink, CEO of BlackRockStephen Schwarzman, CEO of BlackstoneSam Altman, CEO of OpenAIGreg Brockman, president of OpenAI, and Anna BrockmanMiriam Adelson, investor and philanthropistSergey Brin, co-founder of Google, and Gerelyn Gilbert-SotoSatya Nadella, CEO of MicrosoftJames Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed MartinSundar Pichai, CEO of GoogleLarry Culp, CEO of GE AerospaceSanjay Mehrotra, Micron CEO, and Sangeeta MehrotaCristiano Amon, CEO of QualcommJeff Bezos, Amazon chair, and Lauren Sanchez-BezosJeff Yass, ByteDance and TikTok investorJamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan ChaseMichael Dell, CEO of Dell, and Susan DellMary Barra, CEO of General Motors, and Anthony BarraDavid Solomon, CEO of Goldman SachsJane Fraser, CEO of CitigroupElon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and TeslaDarren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, and Kathy WoodsChief Justice John Roberts and Jane Sullivan RobertsJustice Amy Coney Barrett and Jesse BarrettJustice Brett Kavanaugh and Ashley Estes KavanaughSpeaker Mike Johnson and Kelly JohnsonBret Baier, Fox News anchor, and Amy BaierLaura Ingraham, Fox News hostRep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga.Jesse Watters, Fox News host, and Emma WattersDavid Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, and Sandra Lynn EllisonKevin Warsh, Fed chair, and Jane LauderCommerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Allison LutnickJohn Ratcliffe, CIA director, and Michele RatcliffeSteve Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle EastStephen Miller, deputy chief of staff, and Katie MillerDan Scavino, deputy chief of staff, and Erin ScavinoAttorney General Todd Blanche and Kristine BlancheMeredith O’Rourke, political fundraiser and leader of the O’Rourke GroupEnergy Secretary Chris WrightHealth Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cheryl HinesEducation Secretary Linda McMahonInterior Secretary Doug Burgum and Kathryn BurgumTransportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Rachel Campos-DuffyRussell Vought, director of the Office of Management and BudgetLee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection AgencyKeith Sonderling, acting secretary of labourBrad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter, and Katie SimpsonAlbert Bourla, CEO of PfizerDavid Sacks, co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and TechnologyKelly Loeffler, administrator of the Small Business Administration, and Jeff SprecherRepresentative Jason Smith, (Republican, Missouri)Senator Steve Daines, ((Republican, Montana)General Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of StaffJay Clayton, director of national intelligenceBernard Arnault, CEO of LVMHAlexandre ArnaultRyan McInerney, CEO of VisaMichael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard- This article originally appeared in The New York Times.