OpenAI's Altman will donate $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund

LOS ANGELES: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is planning to make a $1 million personal donation to President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration fund, joining a number of tech companies and executives who are working to improve their relationships with the incoming administration.

A spokesperson for OpenAI confirmed the move on Friday. The announcement comes one day after Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it donated $1 million to the same fund. Amazon also said it plans to donate $1 million.

“President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead," Altman said in a statement.

Altman, who is in a legal dispute with rival Elon Musk, has said he is “not that worried” about the Tesla CEO's influence in the incoming administration.

Trump is putting Musk, the world’s richest man, and Vivek Ramaswamy , an entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, in charge of the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is an outside advisory committee that will work with people inside the government to reduce spending and regulations.

Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company earlier this year alleging that the maker of ChatGPT betrayed its founding aims of benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits. Musk recently escalated the lawsuit by asking a federal judge to stop OpenAI’s plans to convert itself into a for-profit business more fully.