During a White House dinner on Thursday, billionaire Bill Gates spoke about vaccines, gene editing, and how he and President Donald Trump plan to take such innovations further.
The president and First Lady Melania Trump dined with Gates to their left and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg to their right.
Other tech titans were in attendance as well, most notably Apple CEO Tim Cook, OpenAI founder Sam Altman, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
“The most brilliant people are gathered at this table,” Trump said at the dinner, according to The Wall Street Journal. “This is definitely a high IQ group.”
At one point, Gates said he and Trump had spoken about taking “American innovation” to the next level regarding health and disease.
“The thing that ties my first career, that I still spend some time on because A.I. is so phenomenal, and my second career, is innovation — innovating in health, in areas like vaccines or gene editing, and the president and I are talking about taking American innovation to the next level to cure, and even eradicate, some of these diseases,” Gates said.
Bill Gates, alongside President Trump and Melania, said he is in talks with Trump about vaccines and gene editing.
He explained that the goal is to take American innovation to the next level, with hopes of curing and even eradicating most diseases.
Gates said his work will… pic.twitter.com/rubpYgOChe
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) September 4, 2025
Gates added that “we’re close” to curing polio, but that “new science” is needed to cure HIV and sickle cell anemia.
He also praised Trump for Operation Warp Speed — Trump’s initiative that accelerated the COVID vaccine rollout in 2020.
“The work being done by the people at this table is changing the world,” Gates said. “You know, it’s coming fast, so it’s great we all get together and talk about how the U.S. can lead in this key area, and apply it even to the poorest outside the U.S. as well as our great citizens.”
But conservatives weren’t happy to see Trump on friendly terms with Gates.
“For the record I’m not going to ever eat Bill Gates fake meat, bugs, take the never ending vaccines, or gene editing,” Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote Friday on the social media platform X. “And I still haven’t forgotten about Zuck bucks.”
For the record I’m not going to ever eat Bill Gates fake meat, bugs, take the never ending vaccines, or gene editing.
And I still haven’t forgotten about Zuck bucks.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene ???????? (@mtgreenee) September 5, 2025
“There is no reason for Bill Gates to be in the White House,” conservative media personality Mike Cernovich wrote on X.
There is no reason for Bill Gates to be in the White House.
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) September 5, 2025
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk did not attend the dinner.
“I was invited, but unfortunately could not attend. A representative of mine will be there,” Musk wrote Thursday on X.
The dinner was originally planned to occur outside, as Trump wanted to debut the newly paved Rose Garden. Rain, however, moved the event indoors, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Each of the tech leaders took turns praising Trump for his strong stance on technological innovation.
“Thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation president. It’s a very refreshing change,” Altman said. “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.”
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