Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI, has emerged as President Donald Trump’s principal outside voice on artificial-intelligence policy after methodically cultivating ties with the White House, according to a Wall Street Journal report published 18 July. Altman began meeting privately with the president this spring and was invited to Trump’s Florida golf club in June, where the president introduced him to donors and praised him as “a very bright man,” the paper said. Altman’s ascent marks a sharp reversal from earlier years, when Elon Musk—once a close Trump confidant—held the administration’s ear on emerging technologies. Relations between Musk and Trump have cooled, while Altman has distanced himself from the Democratic Party, publicly breaking with it on 4 July and signaling openness to the president’s industrial-policy agenda. The two tech leaders have been personal rivals since 2017, when Musk unsuccessfully sought control of OpenAI. With Altman now positioned as the administration’s go-to adviser on AI, policy watchers expect him to exert significant influence over federal research funding, export controls and national-security standards for advanced systems.