Technology / Politics March 25, 2026

The Tech Lords Get Their Council: Trump's PCAST Is Silicon Valley's Hotline to the White House

Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, Larry Ellison, Sergey Brin, and Marc Andreessen are now official presidential advisers. Elon Musk and Sam Altman didn't make the cut. The power map of American AI policy just shifted.

What Happened

President Trump announced Wednesday the first 13 appointments to his President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), filling the advisory body with some of the most recognizable — and wealthiest — names in the American technology industry.

According to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's official press release published March 25, 2026, the council was established by executive order and "brings together the Nation's foremost luminaries in science and technology to advise the President and provide recommendations on strengthening American leadership in science and technology."

The council will be co-chaired by David Sacks, the White House's AI and crypto czar, and Michael Kratsios, a senior technology adviser, according to both the White House announcement and Reuters reporting.

The Full Roster

The 13 initial members named in the official White House announcement are:

The council can expand to up to 24 members, and the White House said additional appointments will follow, along with information about the council's first meeting, per the official announcement.

The Backstory: PCAST Is Not New — But This One Is Different

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology is a recurring institution. As the White House noted in its announcement, every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt established his Science Advisory Board in 1933 has maintained some version of a PCAST. It's traditionally populated with academic scientists, engineers, and a smattering of industry figures.

Trump's version is notably heavier on industry. Fortune observed that of the 13 initial members, only one — physicist John Martinis of UC Santa Barbara — is an academic researcher. Every other member is a current or former tech executive, founder, or investor. Safra Catz and Lisa Su are the only two women on the council.

Trump established this iteration of PCAST by executive order in January 2026. According to Fortune, that executive order stated that "as our global competitors race to exploit these technologies, it is a national security imperative for the United States to achieve and maintain unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance."

The AI Angle: This Is Explicitly About the China Race

The subtext of the PCAST announcement is almost entirely about artificial intelligence and the administration's framing of technological competition with China as a national security issue.

According to Reuters, the council is "expected to play a key role in shaping Washington's response to intensifying global competition in artificial intelligence." The White House has positioned AI policy as one of Trump's central second-term priorities, directing federal agencies within days of his January inauguration to prepare an AI Action Plan aimed at reducing regulatory barriers and accelerating private-sector innovation, per Reuters reporting.

The council's mandate, per the White House, is to focus on "the opportunities and challenges that emerging technologies present to the American workforce, and ensuring all Americans thrive in the Golden Age of Innovation." That last phrase is a recurring Trump administration framing for its technology and economic agenda.

Meta's Zuckerberg and Nvidia said publicly that the council would help strengthen the United States' position in AI, according to Reuters. Oracle declined to comment. AMD and Alphabet did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

The Fusion Wildcard

One appointment stands apart from the AI narrative: Bob Mumgaard, CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a fusion energy startup. The company itself called his appointment "a big signal of the U.S. government's support for the fusion industry," according to Reuters. Commonwealth Fusion is one of the leading private companies pursuing commercial fusion power — a technology that, if realized, would represent a transformation in global energy supply. Its presence in an otherwise AI-heavy council suggests the administration's technology ambitions extend beyond software and chips.

Similarly, Jacob DeWitte's inclusion as CEO of Oklo, a nuclear fission startup, signals the council isn't solely focused on the AI stack — advanced energy, whether fusion or fission, is part of the technology dominance agenda.

Who Isn't On the List

The notable absences are at least as telling as the names present.

Elon Musk, who led the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and was arguably the most prominent Silicon Valley figure in Trump's orbit at the start of his term, is not on the list. Neither is Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI — perhaps the most prominent figure in the commercial AI boom. No executives from Microsoft, which has invested tens of billions into OpenAI and is one of the largest AI infrastructure players in the country, appear on the council.

Fortune noted the Musk absence without official explanation. The omission carries potential significance given that Musk's relationship with the administration has generated friction; his DOGE role made him simultaneously powerful and controversial, and his public feuds with various figures have been well-documented. Whether his absence from PCAST reflects a deliberate cooling of the relationship, a conflict-of-interest decision, or simply a different organizational role for Musk is not confirmed by any named source.

Altman's exclusion is notable given OpenAI's centrality to American AI policy discourse, though the administration has at various points had a complex relationship with the company. No official explanation has been provided by the White House for either absence.

What PCAST Actually Does (And What It Doesn't)

It's worth being precise about the nature of this advisory role. PCAST members are advisers — they do not hold regulatory authority, make binding policy decisions, or direct federal spending. Their function is to advise the president and provide recommendations. Whether those recommendations translate into policy depends entirely on the administration's receptiveness.

That said, access to the president's ear at this level of regular, formalized contact is genuinely consequential. Members of this council will have structured pathways to surface industry perspectives, raise regulatory concerns, and advocate for specific technology policy directions. In an administration that has already signaled a strong preference for deregulation and private-sector leadership in AI, the composition of this group matters.

The choice to co-chair the council with David Sacks — a venture capitalist, former PayPal executive, and current White House AI and crypto policy lead — rather than a career scientist or academic, further signals that this PCAST is more industry advisory board than science committee in the traditional sense.

The Scale of the Bet

Reuters reported that AI has "emerged as a major driver of U.S. investment, with companies pledging trillions of dollars in spending over the coming years as the Trump administration pushes to accelerate the sector's growth." The PCAST appointments are best understood in that context — as the formalization of a governing coalition between the administration and the private-sector entities making those trillion-dollar commitments.

Several of the council's members are simultaneously the executives whose companies stand to benefit most from the AI policy environment this council will help shape. Nvidia chips power the AI buildout. Meta is deploying AI at scale across its platforms. Oracle is building data center infrastructure. Andreessen Horowitz is invested in hundreds of AI companies. The council's composition doesn't create those relationships — it formalizes them.

The Bottom Line

The Trump administration has created its most formal and structured mechanism yet for bringing Silicon Valley's biggest names into direct advisory proximity to the White House. The council is framed around national security and competitiveness with China, with AI as the explicit centerpiece. The 13 initial members skew heavily toward commercial industry rather than academia. Two women are included. Elon Musk and Sam Altman are not. Additional appointments are expected.

What the council recommends, and whether those recommendations visibly shape policy, will be the actual test of its significance. For now, it's the official formalization of something that had already been happening informally: the tech industry and this administration governing in close alignment.

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