Scoop: Vance to headline tech summit in D.C.
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Vice President Vance will give a keynote address at a tech summit in Washington next month, underscoring the Trump administration's focus on artificial intelligence and advanced computing.
Why it matters: Vance, a former venture capitalist, has helped draw Silicon Valley's tech sector more closely than ever to the nation's capital.
- Vance is a laissez-faire evangelist for American tech dominance. "Excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry," Vance warned Europeans in a speech earlier this month.
- It's a message he'll likely drive home March 18 at the American Dynamism Summit, which is in its third year and organized by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
The big picture: Tech influence in federal policy now rivals or exceeds Wall Street's, and not just because of Elon Musk's constant presence in Trump's administration.
Between the lines: Tech sector venture capitalists successfully advocated for Vance to become Trump's running mate last year. They helped fuel Trump's campaign and his inauguration with tens of millions of dollars.
Zoom out: Trump has made a slew of tech hires, many of them tied to Vance. Three days after taking office, Trump issued an executive order appointing tech entrepreneur David Sacks as the administration's "AI and Crypto Czar" to "establish United States leadership in digital financial technology."
- "A lot of founders and investors in Silicon Valley have a deep skepticism about Big Tech," Sacks told Axios in a written statement.
- "They want to innovate and create, rather than censor and consolidate," Sacks said. "The president shares that view. So does the vice president, who has a strong personal network in that world going back to his business career, which is how they can bring everybody together."
Aside from Vance, the summit's speakers include:
- Gwynne Shotwell, president & COO, SpaceX
- Christian Brose, chief strategy officer, Anduril
- Qasar Younis, cofounder & CEO, Applied Intuition
- Gen. Bryan P. Fenton, commander, U.S. Special Operations Command
- Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer, Palantir Technologies
- Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.)
- Ali Ghodsi, cofounder, president, & CEO, Databricks
