Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates was seated next to the first lady at the dinner.
Gates previously tried to convince the Trump administration to preserve critical global health programs and to reconsider cuts to USAID. The last time he publicly sat down for dinner with Trump was shortly after the 2024 election at Mar-a-Lago.
Gates again pushed for both advancements and access to healthcare and advocated for AI’s role in curing diseases like sickle cell or HIV.
“But I think the thing that ties my first career that I still spend some time on, because AI is so phenomenal, and my second career is innovation, and innovating in health, in areas like vaccines or gene editing, and the president and I are talking about taking American innovation to the next level to cure and even eradicate some of these diseases,” Gates said.
“AI, for our foundation, is that we want a doctor for everyone in Africa through AI, we want farmers to have incredible advice, and kids to have a chance to learn,” Gates added. “So the work being done by the people at this table is changing the world.”
Despite disagreeing over funding cuts, Gates thanked Trump for his “incredible leadership” over the White House dinner and said that people at that table are “changing the world.”
