President Donald Trump continued to build on a cozy relationship with tech moguls on Thursday by awarding several of them the National Medal of Science — including his onetime critic Elon Musk.
Musk, the Tesla founder who formerly led DOGE under Trump, received the medal alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su. The National Medal of Technology and Innovation was awarded to Dell CEO Michael Dell and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
“Elon is our modern day Thomas Edison,” Trump said at the event, held at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “And I want to congratulate you. You are my friend and all that.”
Trump was presented with a National Medal of Science that had been awarded in the 1980s to his uncle John G. Trump for his work on high-voltage radiation methods.
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The award is the highest recognition the president can present a scientist or engineer whose contributions have served the nation.
The technology industry — and AI specifically — has been central to Trump’s presidency. Musk donated $291 million to Republican candidates and PACs during the 2024 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets. Multiple tech CEOs attended Trump’s inauguration. Michael Dell and his wife, Susan Dell, pledged to donate $6.25 billion for the president’s “Trump Accounts” initiative.
Trump has been a major booster of data centers and what he calls “super intelligence,” dismissing warnings about the risks from AI leaders.
The president pushed to expand data center proposals and AI initiatives. Earlier this month, he launched a “super intelligence force” to lead the nation’s AI advancement. Trump has allowed tech moguls to self-regulate their companies.
Meanwhile, Americans have opposed local data centers and shown a growing concern for AI advancement. According to Heatmap Pro, at least seven in 10 Americans said they would “oppose a data center being built near their home.” The Pew Research Center also found that 52% of Americans are concerned about the use of AI in daily life.
The presentation of the medal to Musk marks an improvement in his relationship with the president since their public fallout last year.
During Thursday’s event, Trump called Musk an “industrial titan” and highlighted his innovations at Tesla and SpaceX and the recent return of a SpaceX crew from the International Space Station.
“Quite honestly, there is no one like him,” Trump said about Musk.
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