Following a meeting last May with government representatives concerning the technological future, renowned financier Marc Andreessen was “extremely frightened,” characterizing the conversations as “utterly terrifying.” According to his chat with journalist Bari Weiss on her podcast this week, these engagements strongly influenced his support for Trump.

Andreessen was most alarmed by remarks regarding the state’s influence in AI and what he termed as young aides being “radicalized” and “seeking confrontation,” with strategies he felt would be “harmful” to his benefits and those of Silicon Valley.

He exited, sensing they supported the concept of federal regulation over AI to the extent of becoming market controllers, limiting success to only a few governmental collaborators. He believed they discouraged investments in AI. “They plainly told us, ‘don’t engage in AI startups; don’t invest in AI startups,” Andreessen remarked.

It’s important to note that the account from other attendees remains unknown, nor is it clear whom he encountered. However, it’s easy to see why these views would be alarming for Andreessen, especially since his firm has supported AI initiatives like Elon Musk’s xAI, Mistral AI, and Character.AI.

Significantly, Andreessen had already articulated his thoughts on AI in a manifesto entitled “Why AI will save the world” published in June 2023, well ahead of these dialogues, where he advised against AI regulations. This has evidently been a topic of interest for him for some time.

Public actions by the administration regarding AI, as recalled by Andreessen, have been considerably less extreme. An executive order from President Joe Biden in October 2023 introduced a series of optional pledges for AI firms, including sharing safety test outcomes with the government, and Congress was asked to consider data practices by AI enterprises.

At the time, Silicon Valley reacted mixedly to the directive. Sam Altman of OpenAI commented on social media that, though there were “very good aspects” to the plan, “it’s important not to stifle innovation by smaller entities/research teams.”

The incoming administration has so far hinted at being particularly supportive of AI start-ups. Earlier this month, Trump designated VC David Sacks as his AI and crypto authority, which led both Altman and Perplexity to pledge $1 million toward Trump’s inaugural fund. Altman commented to Bloomberg News, “President Trump is going to drive our nation forward into AI’s era, and I’m enthusiastic about aiding his mission to keep America in the lead.”

Andreessen himself has spent much of his time at Mar-a-Lago post-election. He verified to Weiss rumors of his involvement in Elon Musk’s DOGE campaign, calling himself an “unpaid contributor.” At Mar-a-Lago, he has also been engaged in interviewing prospects for incoming positions.

Expressing optimism about Trump’s technology strategies, Andreessen relayed Trump’s words: “I’m not a tech expert, and I don’t need to be, as you folks understand it well. You guys go develop tech businesses. American tech companies should excel.”