OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon plan to donate $1 million each to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, according to reports from Fox and the Wall Street Journal.
TechCrunch has confirmed Altman’s plans to personally commit the money, which is not coming directly from OpenAI.
The donations from the billionaires follow plans by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to also donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund as America’s most powerful tech leaders cosy up to the incoming administration. Inaugural funds are used for activities related to the president’s inauguration ceremony in January.
Amazon’s donation is being prepared as Bezos, the company’s executive chairman, heads over to Mar-a-Lago to visit with Trump next week, the Journal reports. Bezos and Trump had a fraught relationship in the past. During his first term, Trump repeatedly criticized Amazon’s business practices and attacked The Washington Post, which Bezos owns, for being critical of his administration.
This time around, Bezos has made a concerted effort to heal those ties. Bezos blocked the Post from endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president, and has congratulated Trump for his “extraordinary political comeback” on X.
Altman, who hasn’t faced public criticism from Trump yet, told TechCrunch in a statement: “President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead.”
Silicon Valley largely expects Trump to be light on AI regulation, which they say is necessary for the U.S. to remain competitive on a global scale. And while Altman has no known beef with Trump, the OpenAI founder is in the middle of a legal battle with Elon Musk, another close Trump ally, over OpenAI’s attempts to transition to a for-profit company.