Trump to honour Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Huang with science awards

• Trump will give science and technology medals to Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Sergey Brin, Lisa Su, Michael Dell and Satya Nadella at an Oct 8 summit.
• The event shows Trump’s close ties with Silicon Valley and his push for self-regulation on AI, not new federal rules, despite safety concerns.
• The summit, “Science: A New Golden Age,” will also feature a US$100 million compute-credit donation and more than US$100 million for STEM education.

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump is set to award billionaire Elon Musk and other tech titans with medals celebrating science and technological innovation at a summit on Oct 8, underscoring the close ties between his administration and Silicon Valley.

Musk, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Sergey Brin of Google parent Alphabet, and Advanced Micro Devices’s Lisa Su are slated to receive the National Medal of Science, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share details on the event. 

Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Technologies, and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella are due to be awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. 

The summit will reunite Trump with many top tech industry leaders just a week after he hosted them at the White House to discuss concerns over the development of artificial intelligence following a series of high-profile security breaches that fuelled calls for stronger guardrails.

Even before that gathering got under way, however, Trump had largely dismissed the need for tougher safeguards and executives instead agreed on a voluntary framework that calls for partnering with outside auditors to conduct safety assessments of advanced models. 

Trump has shied away from calling for new federal regulations on artificial intelligence, pushing instead for more self-regulation, warning that any restrictions could mean losing a race with China to develop and harness the technology.

He’s also signed an order directing the executive branch to rename AI as SI, super intelligence.

While Silicon Valley was largely wary of Trump during his first term, industry leaders have come to embrace many of his policies as he has moved to reduce their tax and regulatory burdens and pushed for investment in cutting-edge areas.

AI has been a particular focus for the President, who has been a champion of the sector despite voter anxiety over its impact on jobs, energy costs and the environment ahead of midterm elections. 

“The Trump Administration is grateful for the contributions of these incredible leaders in science and technology. These recipients are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation,” White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said in a statement.

Fox News Digital first reported on Trump’s plans to award the tech leaders.

The summit on Oct 8, dubbed “Science: A New Golden Age”, follows a report Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios submitted to Trump in July, highlighting the advancement of artificial intelligence in the US.

The summit will bring together leading scientists and innovators to discuss the evolution of AI, according to the official.

At the event, Trump is also expected to announce that National Compute, an applied intelligence company, will donate US$100 million (S$128 million) in compute credits to pursue scientific discovery, the official stated. Politico first reported the donation.

The Trump administration will also announce plans to inject more than US$100 million into education programmes for American researchers in STEM fields, Bloomberg previously reported. BLOOMBERG