During a Monday evening appearance on NBC News, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei voiced alarm regarding “some of the things we’ve seen in the last few days,” alluding to violent incidents involving Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. He emphasized the critical need to protect democratic principles domestically, a point he reiterated in a post on X that highlighted “the horror we’re seeing in Minnesota.” On the broadcast, Amodei stated his support for equipping democracies to resist autocratic regimes and stressed that “we need to defend our own democratic values at home.” He also clarified that Anthropic holds no contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In a separate development, an internal Slack message from OpenAI’s Sam Altman to his staff, later obtained by The New York Times, included his remark: “What’s happening with ICE is going too far.” Altman wrote, “Part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach,” and noted, “There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what’s happening now, and we need to get the distinction right.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook also addressed the situation in an email to employees, which was leaked to Bloomberg, expressing that he was “heartbroken by the events in Minneapolis.”

Technology workers, including staff from these firms, have been urging their leaders to contact the White House and demand the withdrawal of ICE from U.S. cities. This follows the killing of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by Border Patrol agents. An open letter from tech employees further called on CEOs to terminate all corporate contracts with ICE and to publicly denounce the agency’s violence. Those advocating for executive action are seeking broader support, with the ICEout campaign stating, “We’re glad to hear the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic condemning the ICE murders,” and adding, “Now we need to hear from CEOs of Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, all of whom have remained silent despite calls all across the industry.”

While Amodei, Altman, and Cook have each made statements—one publicly and the others internally—all three also included praise for former President Trump alongside their critiques. Cook mentioned in his email that he had a “good conversation” with President Trump and valued “his openness to engaging on issues that matter to us all.” This came amid reported frustration from Apple employees over Cook’s attendance at a private screening of a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump shortly after ICE agents shot and killed U.S. citizen Alex Pretti.

Amodei commended Trump’s willingness to consider allowing Minnesota authorities to conduct an independent probe into the shootings by federal agents, after footage of Pretti’s death spread online. Whether such an investigation will occur is uncertain, though a rising number of Republican figures have also started requesting one. (Daniela Amodei, Anthropic’s president and Dario Amodei’s sister, posted on LinkedIn that she was “horrified and sad to see what has happened in Minnesota,” writing, “What we’ve been witnessing over the past days is not what America stands for.”)

In his staff message, Altman said he was encouraged by Trump’s recent responses and expressed hope that the president, whom he called “a very strong leader,” would “rise to this moment and unite the country.” He assured employees that OpenAI would “try to figure out how to actually do the right thing as best we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed.” Altman has not publicly criticized the administration’s immigration policies or the deployment of Border Patrol agents in American cities.

J. J. Colao, founder of the PR firm Haymaker Group and a signatory to the ICEout.tech letter, criticized Altman for attempting to “have it both ways” by labeling Trump a strong leader “as if the president bears no responsibility for ICE’s actions.” Colao added, “On net, I think his statement is helpful, but the performative tribute to the president does a lot to diminish it.”

The Trump administration’s AI-focused policies have significantly driven growth at companies like OpenAI and Anthropic over the past year. OpenAI has raised at least $40 billion and is discussing an additional $100 billion at an $830 billion valuation, while Anthropic has secured $19 billion and is in talks for another $25 billion at a $350 billion valuation. Despite this, Altman’s recent praise for Trump marks a shift from his earlier stance. Ahead of Trump’s first term in 2016, Altman wrote on his blog that Trump “is not merely irresponsible. He is irresponsible in the way dictators are…To anyone familiar with the history of Germany in the 1930s, it’s chilling to watch Trump in action.”

At that time, he described Trump as a “demagogic hate-monger” who promoted the false promise to “Make America Great by keeping us safe from outsiders” to divert attention from having “no serious plan for how to restore economic growth.” Altman recognized the risk in publishing his post and concluded with a quote often attributed to Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” He wrote, “This would be a good time for us all—even Republicans, especially Republican politicians who previously endorsed Trump—to start speaking up.”

Amodei has also been vocal in his criticism of Trump’s decision to permit Nvidia to sell AI chips to China, which he called “crazy” during the World Economic Forum last week, comparing it to “selling nuclear weapons to North Korea and [bragging that] Boeing made the casings.”

Whether these CEOs will fully meet the demands of some within their companies is still unclear. Nevertheless, given the significant stakes for their businesses, even their measured internal criticisms are noteworthy.

This report has been updated to include comment from J. J. Colao and details from Tim Cook’s leaked email. We are investigating the internal dynamics of the AI sector, from the organizations shaping its trajectory to the individuals affected by their choices. To share sensitive information or confidential documents, contact Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.com or Russell Brandom at russell.com. For secure communication, reach them via Signal at @rebeccabellan.491 and russellbrandom.49.