The big technology companies have changed their political color and the leaders who once boasted diversity and inclusiontoday they position themselves alongside Trump and they even have dinner with him. In Silicon Valley, almost no one talks about politics, much less to criticize the president, no one except one man.
Jeff Dean. He is the chief scientist of Google DeepMind and one of the few voices in Silicon Valley that has a critical stance towards the Trump government and most importantly: he says it in public. As they say in the Wall Street JournalDean often shares messages critical of the current administration in your X accountwhere he has almost 430,000 followers, and has strongly condemned acts like the murder of Alex Pretti at the hands of ICe agents in the Minnesota protests.
Support Anthropic. Jeff Dean was one of 30 Google and OpenAI employees who signed the letter of support towards Anthropicafter it sued the Pentagon for declaring them “a risk to national security”. The judge who agreed with Anthropic and blocked the decisioncited this letter of support as part of the context of the case. Other companies like Microsoft They also took a stand in favor of Anthropic, but they did so through a spokesperson.
The rarity. Positions like that of Jeff Dean, who openly criticizes the government and also does so in a personal capacity, would not have stood out a few years ago. In 2018 technology companies turned to the #MeToo movement and also supported the mobilizations of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. This happened during Trump’s first term, but during his second, figures like Jeff Dean have become a rarity in Silicon Valley.
The second mandate. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Tim Cook… the support of the technological leaders was noted from the investiture ceremony itself, which was not only attended but They donated a million dollars each and, as a reward, saved billions in taxes. Companies began to take measures immediately, such as remove from Meta’s anti-fake-news system either dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion departments.
The delicate line. That Donald Trump is a fairly volatile leader is nothing new. Making him angry is as easy as contradicting him and his reaction can be excessive, And if not, tell Anthropic. In this sense, the fear of the possible consequences of a disagreement plays a role in this submission, because let us not forget that the government is the one who dictates export-import regulations and can make their business much easier. In the end, what is happening in Silicon Valley It is not so different from the situation in China that is so criticized from the American side.
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