At the White House Technology Dinner on Thursday, U.S. President Trump congratulated Google CEO Sundar Pichai and co-founder Sergey Brin on their recent victory in an antitrust ruling. "Yesterday was a good day for you," Trump told Pichai at the dinner. "It was a good day for Google. Do you want to talk about that big day yesterday?"
Google parent Alphabet's market value increased by $230 billion this week after a U.S. judge rejected a U.S. Justice Department request requiring the tech giant to sell its Chrome browser and Android operating system but ordered it to share data with rivals to open up competition in online searches. The ruling is a key victory for Google.
"I'm glad it's over," Pichai responded to Trump, drawing laughter from other guests.
"This is a long process," Pichai said. "Thanks to your administration for having a constructive dialogue and we were able to reach some solutions."
"That's right," Trump replied.
"The AI moment is one of the most transformative moments that any of us have ever seen or will see in our lifetimes, so making sure that the United States is at the forefront -- I think your administration is investing a lot. Under your leadership, I think the AI Action Plan is already a great start, and we look forward to working together. Thank you for your leadership," Pichai said.
As Pichai was speaking, Trump interrupted him at one point and said, "Biden is the one who filed the lawsuit, you know?"
In fact, the antitrust lawsuit was filed by the then-U.S. Department of Justice during Trump’s first term, but Pichai did not correct him.