Leading figures in the artificial intelligence industry, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have publicly and internally voiced concerns over the recent actions of Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, particularly following incidents of violence. Amodei, appearing on an NBC News segment and posting on X, highlighted “some of the things we’ve seen in the last few days,” specifically referencing “the horror we’re seeing in Minnesota.”

He underscored the importance of preserving democracy at home, asserting his belief in arming democracies against autocratic countries and emphasizing the need to defend democratic values within the U.S. Amodei also confirmed that Anthropic holds no contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Similarly, Sam Altman’s stance became known through a leaked internal Slack message to OpenAI employees, where he stated, “What’s happening with ICE is going too far.” Altman articulated that a vital aspect of loving one’s country is the “American duty to push back against overreach,” differentiating between the deportation of violent criminals and the current situation, which he believes requires clear distinction.

He assured employees that OpenAI would strive to “figure out how to actually do the right thing as best we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed,” though he has not yet publicly criticized the administration’s immigration agenda.

These executive statements come amidst growing pressure from tech workers, including employees from both Anthropic and OpenAI. An open letter circulated by these workers urged their CEOs to contact the White House, demand ICE withdraw from U.S. cities following the killing of two U.S. citizens by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, cancel all company contracts with ICE, and publicly condemn ICE’s violence. The organizers of ICEout.tech, an advocacy group whose identities remain anonymous, expressed satisfaction with Amodei and Altman’s condemnations but called for other prominent tech CEOs, including those from Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, to break their silence.

Despite their critiques of ICE’s actions, both Amodei and Altman tempered their statements with praise for President Trump. Amodei commended Trump’s consideration of allowing Minnesota authorities to conduct an independent investigation into the federal agent shootings, a move that gained support from a growing number of Republicans after multiple videos of Alex Pretti’s death circulated online. Altman, in his internal message, also expressed encouragement by Trump’s recent responses, referring to the president as “a very strong leader” and hoping he would “rise to this moment and unite the country.”

This dual approach drew criticism from figures like J.J. Colao, founder of PR firm Haymaker Group and a signatory of ICEout.tech’s letter. Colao accused Altman of attempting to “have it both ways” by praising Trump as a strong leader while simultaneously criticizing actions for which the president bears responsibility. While acknowledging that Altman’s statement was “helpful,” Colao argued that the “performative tribute to the president does a lot to diminish it.”

The current political landscape, characterized by the Trump administration’s AI-forward policies, has significantly contributed to the explosive growth of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic over the past year. OpenAI has reportedly raised at least $40 billion and is in talks for another $100 billion at an $830 billion valuation, while Anthropic has secured $19 billion and is negotiating for an additional $25 billion at a $350 billion valuation. This context may shed light on the CEOs' nuanced public postures.

The praise for Trump marks a notable shift for Altman, who in the lead-up to Trump’s first term in 2016, posted a blog entry sharply critical of him. In that post, Altman described Trump as “not merely irresponsible. He is irresponsible in the way dictators are…” and chillingly compared Trump’s actions to the history of Germany in the 1930s. He labeled Trump a “demagogic hate-monger” who offered false promises of making America great by keeping out “outsiders” as a distraction from a lack of serious economic plans. Altman concluded his 2016 post with a quote attributed to Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” urging others to speak up.

Amodei, too, has previously demonstrated more fervent opposition to certain Trump administration policies, notably calling Trump’s decision to allow Nvidia to sell AI chips to China “crazy” last week during the World Economic Forum. He likened it to “selling nuclear weapons to North Korea and [bragging that] Boeing made the casings.”

Whether these prominent AI CEOs will fully meet the demands of their workforces remains to be seen. However, given the high stakes for their respective companies within the current political and economic environment, even internal or cautiously mild critiques represent a significant and noteworthy development in the evolving relationship between the tech industry and government policy. TechCrunch has reached out to Anthropic and OpenAI for further comment.