The White House held a "listening session" of the round table on innovation with top technology executives on Thursday, part of the Trump Administration's efforts to ensure US leadership. In emerging fields, such as artificial intelligence, wireless 5G and quantum computing.
Executives who participated included Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Sundar Pichai of Google, Safra Catz of Oracle, Steve Mollenkopf of Oracle, Ginni Rometty of IBM and others, according to White House officials. Representatives from the Blackstone Group, Carnegie Mellon University and MIT will participate, as will former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the officials said at a briefing.
The executives met with a handful of senior administration officials, including Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who serves as the president's chief adviser; Ivanka Trump, the daughter and adviser to the president; and Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council. Michael Kratsios and Chris Liddell, both technology advisers, will also attend the meeting.
President Donald Trump stopped at the meeting, according to a White House official. Initially it was not clear if Trump would attend. A White House spokesman did not share the details of Trump's comments or how long he stayed. The meeting was not open to the media.
It is not clear what was specifically discussed at the meeting. In a statement, Google's Pichai called the meeting a "productive and attractive discussion" on "America's leadership in emerging technologies."
Ivanka Trump, who spoke at a conference on innovation in Washington, DC, later in the day, said the reorganization of the US workforce to fill technology positions in the future was a central issue in the discussion. He used quantum computing to illustrate the idea that industries will be created that have not yet been thought. And while automation may displace some current jobs, she sees skills training as a way to reorganize workers for better jobs.
"Innovation is always a positive result," he said in a panel that also included Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty. "And our job is to guarantee the quickest transition for those affected, the ones who are most vulnerable are those who have less skills."
Administration officials said the meeting is the first of many that the White House plans to have with a wide range of companies. In the future, the guest list may include executives from Amazon, Apple and others, they said.
The meeting comes amidst the tension in the relationship between technology companies in Silicon Valley and Washington. Legislators at the Capitol seek to control technology companies, especially when it comes to security and privacy issues. So far, these companies have operated with little or no government regulation or oversight.
President Trump has also criticized several Internet companies, including Google, accusing the company of "manipulating" their search results to return "false news" that criticize him.
"Google and others are suppressing the voices of conservatives and hiding information and news that are good," Trump wrote in August. "They are controlling what we can and can not see."
Google's Pichai is expected to testify before Congress next week to discuss these issues.
Before Thursday's meeting, White House officials said none of these issues would be discussed. Instead, the meeting should focus on the technologies of the future, alleviate regulatory burdens and prepare the US workforce. Through educational initiatives of STEM.
One issue that probably arose is the trade war of the Trump administration with China, which involves many in the technology industry. It is also unclear what President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on at a meeting held over the weekend.
