tech
January 27, 2026
Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs condemn ICE violence, praise Trump
Anthropic's Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman spoke out against ICE enforcement tactics following Minneapolis violence, with one addressing concerns publicly and the other in an internal message.
TL;DR
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei expressed concern over Border Patrol violence and the importance of defending democratic values at home.
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated internally that ICE's actions were "going too far" and that there's a difference between deporting criminals and current actions.
- Tech workers have called on CEOs to demand ICE leave U.S. cities and cancel contracts with the agency.
- Both Amodei and Altman included praise for President Trump in their statements.
- Amodei applauded Trump's consideration for an independent investigation into the shootings.
- Altman expressed hope that Trump would "unite the country" and assured employees OpenAI would "do the right thing."
- J.J. Colao criticized Altman for praising Trump, suggesting he was trying to "have it both ways" and diminishing his statement.
- The article notes that Trump administration's AI-forward policies have contributed to significant growth for OpenAI and Anthropic.
- Past statements from Altman in 2016 heavily criticized Trump, calling him a "demagogic hate-monger" and comparing him to dictators.
- Amodei had previously called Trump's decision to allow Nvidia to sell AI chips to China "crazy."