Image Xi Jinping, China's leader, was the guest of honor at the White House state dinner on Thursday. Andrew here. We've got a full rundown of the state dinner for Xi Jinping, China's leader, and the C.E.O.s who made the pilgrimage to the White House. Many told me that they considered going an honor and liked the access, but some described it as a chore, given the frequent command-performance requests by the White House. Some worried that they might get even more invitations to be in Washington in the next two years if the House flips — to testify before Congress. Two guests not necessarily among the usual suspects: Bernard Arnault and his son Alexandre of LVMH, representing a non-U.S. company (they were also at President Trump's inauguration), and Jeff Yass, the billionaire financier and investor in Byte Dance. A few executives' spouses were invited, while most were not, prompting a lot of tea leaf reading.

In other news: MGM Resorts, we hear, is now considering buying People Inc., controlled by Barry Diller, after People dropped its bid to buy the roughly 73 percent of the casino operator that it doesn't already own. (The Wall Street Journal first reported the deliberations.) MGM's board has already authorized an active share repurchase program and isn't thrilled with having a shareholder with such power. We'll see if and what kind of premium MGM offers People.

What wasn't said at the dinner There they were, dining on sesame-crusted sea bass and braised bok choy: leaders of U.S. technology giants who had gathered at the White House state dinner for Xi Jinping, China's leader. Those assembled, including Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, had a combined estimated net worth well over $2 trillion and projected American dominance in artificial intelligence. Image From left, Melania Trump, Elon Musk and Lisa Su of AMD.

Image Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. But despite their presence, the biggest issue dominating the sector right now, A.I. safety, hardly came up. That was emblematic of a state visit that appeared heavy on pomp and lighter on substance. Who attended the dinner: Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Sundar Pichai and Sergey Brin of Alphabet, and Lisa Su of AMD were present. Image Lisa Su of AMD, far left; Jensen Huang of Nvidia, center; and Tim Cook of Apple, far right. Image Elon Musk of Space X and Tesla, left; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet. So, too, were nontech executives, including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone, Larry Fink of Black Rock, Jane Fraser of Citigroup, Jeff Yass of Susquehanna International Group, Mary Barra of G.M., Darren Woods of Exxon Mobil, and Bernard and Alexandre Arnault of LVMH.(Not present: C.E.O.s of major Chinese companies, even though some reportedly flew to Washington anyway in case they got last-minute invites.)

Image Sam Altman of Open AI, left, and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta. The most striking aspect of the dinner, and the visit overall, was what wasn't said. Despite the guest list, President Trump said nothing about A.I. — or what he's taken to calling 'S.I.,' for 'super intelligence' — in his prepared remarks. (Instead, he gave attendees a tour of the ballroom that's under construction.)Before the dinner, Trump made clear that he's happy with the A.I. status quo, without imposing additional safeguards on the technology: 'I want to leave it exactly where it is,' he wrote on Truth Social. 'That is China's position also.'Xi delivered a slightly different message: 'We have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage A.I. for good and ensure that the development of A.I. is always under human control and serves the well-being of the people,' the autocratic Chinese leader said earlier in the day. Behind the scenes, Trump and Xi discussed A.I. and security, according to a Chinese readout of their meeting. Trump and Xi also privately ...