Mark Zuckerberg found himself in a bit of an awkward situation during a private conversation with Donald Trump that was accidentally broadcasted.
The 41-year-old CEO of Meta was overheard making a rather embarrassing admission to President Trump after being asked an unexpected question while dining next to him.
On Thursday, September 4, Zuckerberg was among several tech industry leaders attending a significant meeting in Silicon Valley. The gathering included Apple’s Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Google’s Sergey Brin and Sundar Pichai, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
Notably absent was Elon Musk, who is often referred to as Trump’s ‘first buddy.’ This event was organized to leverage artificial intelligence in order to establish the US as a leader in global innovation, following First Lady Melania Trump’s summit on AI in education.
During the televised dinner, President Trump asked Zuckerberg about his anticipated spending in the United States.
Seemingly taken by surprise, Zuckerberg responded: “Oh gosh, um, I think it’s probably gonna be, something like, I don’t know, at least $600 billion through ’28, in the US, yeah.”
When Trump acknowledged the enormity of the figure, Zuckerberg replied: “Yeah, no it’s significant.”
Subsequently, a hot mic captured Zuckerberg issuing an apology to Trump, admitting he was unprepared for the question, as reported by The Daily Mail.
“I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with,” he acknowledged.
Zuckerberg also admitted that he ‘wasn’t paying attention’ to a question from another reporter regarding free speech laws in the UK.
Trump jokingly remarked that this was ‘the beginning’ of Zuckerberg’s political career, to which Zuckerberg responded with a laugh.
The meeting also saw discussions about future investments from other tech leaders, such as Google’s Pichai, who announced plans to invest $250 billion in the US, and Apple’s Cook, who mentioned a $600 billion investment.
Tim Cook expressed his gratitude to Trump: “I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we can make a major investment in the United States and have some key manufacturing here.
“I think it says a lot about your leadership and focus on innovation.”
Sam Altman also commended the president for his ‘pro-business’ and ‘pro-innovation’ stance, noting that Trump’s approach brought a ‘very refreshing change’ to the tech sector.
“I think it’s going to set us up for a long period of leading the world, and that wouldn’t be happening without your leadership,” the OpenAI head stated.
During the gathering, Trump commented on the high concentration of intelligence in the State Dining Room, describing the assembled tech leaders and billionaires as a ‘high IQ group.’
“I know everybody at the table indirectly through reading about you and studying, knowing a lot about your business, actually making it very easy for you in terms of electric capacity and getting it for you, getting your permits,” he noted.