Tim Cook Expected at Trump's State Dinner for Xi as AI Export Tensions Loom

Former Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to attend the Sept. 24 state dinner hosted by President Donald Trump for Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to Bloomberg. The dinner is part of Xi's visit to Washington for a one-day summit, where trade and technology—including tensions over AI chip exports and AI safety—are expected to be key topics.

Cook stepped down as Apple CEO on Sept. 1, handing the role to John Ternus, and now serves as executive chairman of Apple's board. Apple said at the time that Cook would remain involved in parts of the business, including engaging with policymakers globally. Given Apple's deep ties to both the U.S. and China, Cook's presence on the guest list was widely expected.

Other tech leaders expected to attend include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Reuters reported that Xi will bring a large delegation of Chinese business leaders, putting business at the center of the visit. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in mid-September that the U.S. is open to discussing "shared risks" from AI with China, and expects talks to cover both open and closed weight models.

Before the meeting, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on the industry to slow the development of more capable frontier models, a proposal publicly backed by OpenAI's Altman and xAI's Elon Musk. Trump, however, dismissed such concerns, telling reporters in early September that if the U.S. does not win the AI race, it will be in a very bad position. During his second term, he has signed multiple executive actions aimed at accelerating AI development.

The White House, Apple and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.