Why the co-founder of LinkedIn wasn't on the Presidential Inauguration stage
Co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, speaks onstage during The AI Optimist Club at ‘WIRED Celebrates 30th Anniversary’ on Dec. 5, 2023, in San Francisco. Photo by Kimberly White / Getty Images for WIRED
National Public Radio
Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, is in a difficult position — on the outs with President Trump, a new administration and his former friend Elon Musk.
Hoffman supported Kamala Harris for president in 2024, and had previously bankrolled a lawsuit against Trump by E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault. And on January 20, when several tech billionaires, including his friend Mark Zuckerberg, stood on stage for Trump's inauguration, Hoffman wasn't invited. He told us that he assumed it's partly that he isn't a current CEO of a giant company, but the political difference with his fellow tech founders is hard to overlook.
We had a conversation with Hoffman about this awkward moment — and also his effort to look far beyond this moment, into the future of artificial intelligence. Hoffman, a longtime investor in AI, has co-authored a book called "Superagency" that takes an optimistic view of AI. At a moment when many Americans worry about what can go wrong with AI, Hoffman argues for what can go right.
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