Tech Worldwide

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Tech moguls as heads of nation-states

Photo: Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images It was a historic, even jarring, scene that captures a once-unimaginable geopolitical ordering. The world's most powerful heads of state gathered in the French Alps this week for the annual G7 summit, with the CEOs of America's dominant AI companies seated and treated like heads of nation-states themselves. Why it matters: This is the future many leaders and AI CEOs envision — heads of state and the masters of tech in constant discussion, and sometimes conflict, over who controls AI, its rules, and its application to governing and world security. Think of Anthropic vs. Trump as merely a small test run of this dynamic, with governments battling private companies over their products' threat to U.S. or global security. AI CEOs sat around the table with leaders of the world's democracies, treated as peers. The companies, creating the world's future economy and security infrastructure, are now the equivalent of nation-states. 📷 In the photo above, you see President Trump (upper left above) flanked by OpenAI CEO Altman at his right and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, a Nobel laureate, on his left. The G7 host, French President Emmanuel Macron (upper right above), is flanked by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. 🕶️ Altman was swarmed on Wednesday as he entered the summit room in Évian-les-Bains for a working lunch with the heads of actual states, with ministers and cabinet members from around the world straining for a look. Altman held bilateral meetings — bilats, in diplomatic shorthand — with many of the heads of state. He heard again and again that the countries want the AI companies as dependable partners. "Do not cede your responsibilities to AI labs like mine," Altman said in closed-door remarks. He later added: "No single lab should be making the decisions." Amodei, Altman and Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang each posed with Macron for bilat photos with the French flag behind them, in the chair typically occupied by a president, prime minister or chancellor. 🎤 The working lunch was closed to the press. But I've confirmed remarks by the three AI titans. Each urged Western powers to work together to be sure democracies continue to dominate AI. Keep reading for a quote from each. 📱 Go deeper: Watch Marc Caputo's post-G-7 interview with President Trump.