Elon Musk not on invite list for White House meeting of AI tech giants

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News on Sep 4, 2025

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Elon Musk reportedly wasn’t on the invite list asking tech world CEOs to discuss “artificial intelligence education” at the White House on Thursday.

President Donald Trump plans to dine in the newly renovated Rose Garden with more than a dozen pioneering AI executives, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, according to a guest list first obtained by The Hill.

Not among the names on that VIP rundown is that of the world’s richest man, who spent nearly $300 million last year to put Trump back in power, then appeared to sour on his former “first buddy” after serving just four months in the president’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Musk claimed on Thursday he was invited to the event “but unfortunately could not attend,” and said he would send a representative on his behalf.

Cracks in Musk’s relationship with Trump began to emerge in June when the tech billionaire took issue with the president’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which didn’t include credits for electric cars.

“I’m sorry but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk posted on X at the time.

A short while later, Musk accused the Justice Department of holding back information about its investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein because the president, who was friends with the dead pedophile, is “in the Epstein files.”

The following week, Musk confessed some of his comments “went too far.”

President Trump told radio host Scott Jennings on Tuesday that he expects Musk to fall in line again at some point.

“He’s a good man,” Trump said, claiming the 54-year-old Tesla CEO is “80% super genius, and then 20% he’s got some problems.”

On Thursday, Musk responded to a video of a 2024 interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin in which he went off on former President Joe Biden for snubbing him from a White House meeting of electric vehicle makers.

“I try not to start fights, but I do finish them,” Musk wrote to Sorkin in response to the clip.