Trump's New Science Council Is Nine Tech Billionaires and One Scientist — What That Means for AI Policy
·6 min read
Jensen Huang, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, and Sergey Brin are among 13 executives named to Trump's PCAST. With Sam Altman and Elon Musk conspicuously absent, the lineup signals who will shape US AI regulation and chip export policy.
The first full list of Trump's revived President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology went public this week, and the roster says everything about where AI policy is headed for the next two years. Thirteen members were named — among them Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, AMD CEO Lisa Su, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, and Oracle CEO Safra Catz. The council is co-chaired by AI and crypto czar David Sacks and former Office of Science and Technology Policy official Michael Kratsios.
The two most notable names on the list are the ones that are not there. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Elon Musk, who runs xAI and was Trump's most prominent tech ally during the 2024 campaign, are both absent. Their exclusion is not an oversight.
PCAST · Trump AI policy · Jensen Huang Nvidia
Musk's absence reflects his publicly deteriorating relationship with the administration following his brief and chaotic tenure leading the Department of Government Efficiency. Multiple White House officials told Bloomberg this week that Musk "is no longer part of the core advisory structure." Altman's exclusion is more pointed — the White House and OpenAI have been in escalating tension over OpenAI's push for government contracts and the administration's broader distrust of the nonprofit-turned-capped-profit structure. Several PCAST members, including Andreessen, have been openly critical of Altman's governance of OpenAI.
“Musk's absence reflects his publicly deteriorating relationship with the administration following his brief and chaotic tenure leading the Department of Government Efficiency.”
Scientific American moved quickly to flag what the composition reveals: nine of the 13 members are technology billionaires with direct financial stakes in AI and semiconductor policy. Only one member — physicist John Martinis, a former Google quantum computing researcher now at UC Santa Barbara — is primarily a scientist. The publication noted that traditional PCAST panels have maintained a roughly equal balance of academic scientists and industry executives. The current configuration, by contrast, is essentially an industry advisory board with a government letterhead.
Key Takeaways
→PCAST: The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is a federal advisory body that provides the President and senior officials with science and technology policy recommendations.
→Trump AI policy: The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is a federal advisory body that provides the President and senior officials with science and technology policy recommendations.
→Jensen Huang Nvidia: The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is a federal advisory body that provides the President and senior officials with science and technology policy recommendations.
→Mark Zuckerberg Meta: The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is a federal advisory body that provides the President and senior officials with science and technology policy recommendations.
That framing matters because the council's mandate covers the exact policy domains where these executives have the most to gain or lose. According to the White House announcement, PCAST will advise on AI research priorities and federal R&D spending, semiconductor manufacturing policy, chip export controls, workforce development for tech industries, and national security technology infrastructure. Nvidia's Jensen Huang, for example, has been the most vocal corporate critic of the Biden-era chip export restrictions that blocked high-performance GPU sales to China. His seat on PCAST positions Nvidia to shape any loosening or restructuring of those controls under the Trump administration.
PCAST · Trump AI policy · Jensen Huang Nvidia
The council can expand to 24 members, and the White House confirmed 11 additional seats remain unfilled. The criteria for those additions — whether they will include more scientists, healthcare executives, or defense technology voices — will be an early signal of how broadly the council intends to define its mandate.
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For investors and market watchers, the PCAST composition is a reasonably legible forward indicator of near-term AI policy. The co-chairmanship of David Sacks, who has been the administration's most consistent voice for light-touch AI regulation and against mandatory model disclosure requirements, suggests the council will push against the European-style regulatory framework and toward voluntary industry commitments. Andreessen's presence reinforces that orientation — he has written extensively in favor of treating AI regulation as an existential threat to US competitiveness.
The implicit exclusion of Altman does create an interesting competitive dynamic. OpenAI has positioned the o-series and GPT-5 product lines as the default federal government AI infrastructure. If OpenAI's competitors — Meta (Llama 4), Google DeepMind, Nvidia, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure — now have direct advisory access to federal AI procurement decisions, that is a structural disadvantage for OpenAI in the government contracting market. The Defense Department's AI adoption roadmap, currently in revision, is one of the highest-value procurement decisions the council could influence.
What this means for you: If you invest in semiconductor or AI stocks, the PCAST lineup is a meaningful data point. A Huang-influenced council almost certainly pushes toward relaxed chip export restrictions — positive for Nvidia's China-adjacent revenue. A Zuckerberg-Ellison axis in tech policy means open-model and cloud-infrastructure approaches to AI are likely to receive more favorable regulatory treatment than closed-model providers like OpenAI and Anthropic. For enterprises currently evaluating AI vendor strategy, the composition of this council is worth factoring into longer-term contract decisions.
PCAST meetings are public record but advisory opinions are not binding. The real mechanism of influence is informal — these executives will have regular direct access to Sacks, Kratsios, and ultimately the President on decisions that move markets. Watch for the council's first formal meeting, expected in late April, and the recommendations on chip export policy expected before the summer Congressional recess.
The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is a federal advisory body that provides the President and senior officials with science and technology policy recommendations. Under Trump, it is co-chaired by AI czar David Sacks and focuses on AI policy, semiconductor strategy, chip export controls, and national security technology.
Why was Sam Altman excluded from Trump's PCAST?
The White House has been in growing tension with OpenAI over federal contracting, governance concerns, and the administration's preference for open-model AI approaches. Several PCAST members, including Marc Andreessen, have been publicly critical of Altman's stewardship of OpenAI.
Why was Elon Musk not included in PCAST?
Musk's relationship with the Trump administration deteriorated significantly following his turbulent role running DOGE. Multiple White House officials have indicated he is no longer part of the core advisory structure, making his PCAST exclusion unsurprising.
How will Jensen Huang's PCAST role affect Nvidia's stock?
Huang has been the most vocal corporate critic of Biden-era chip export restrictions. His advisory access to chip policy decisions is widely interpreted as favorable for Nvidia's efforts to expand high-performance GPU sales, particularly to markets currently restricted under export control rules.
Will PCAST actually change AI regulation?
PCAST recommendations are advisory, not binding. But the council's influence is primarily informal — members get regular direct access to the White House on AI procurement, chip policy, and R&D budget decisions. Its composition strongly signals a preference for light-touch, voluntary regulation over mandatory model disclosure requirements.
