Responding to employee pressure, the CEOs of Anthropic, OpenAI, and Apple have spoken out against recent ICE enforcement actions in Minneapolis that resulted in civilian deaths. Anthropic's Dario Amodei publicly called the events a "horror," while OpenAI's Sam Altman stated in an internal message that ICE is "going too far." Apple's Tim Cook sent an internal memo expressing he was "heartbroken" and called for "de-escalation."
In a complex political maneuver, the statements of condemnation were coupled with cautious praise for President Trump. Altman's internal message, leaked to the press, called Trump "a very strong leader" and expressed hope he would unite the country. Cook also noted he had a "good conversation" with the president on the matter. The dual-sided statements highlight the tightrope executives are walking between employee demands and maintaining relationships with the administration.