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Some tech leaders are finally speaking up against the violent methods used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement federal agents after an agent shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently told employees in an internal Slack message that he thought that ICE was “going too far.”

“There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what’s happening now, and we need to get the distinction right,” he wrote. Calling President Donald Trump a “strong leader,” he urged Trump to “unite the country” and carry out a transparent investigation.

Prominent figures across the AI industry like Yann LeCun, Jeff Dean, Vinod Khosla and Reid Hoffman are part of a growing chorus of Silicon Valley heavyweights who expressed outrage about the fatal shootings. LeCun called the agents “M U R D E R E R S,” on X. In sharing a lengthy essay on AI risks on X, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei noted, “given the horror we’re seeing in Minnesota, its emphasis on the importance of preserving democratic values and rights at home is particularly relevant.” Several OpenAI, Google Deepmind and Anthropic researchers also condemned ICE’s actions on social media.

But some of the most powerful names in the tech world have been suspiciously silent. Meanwhile, over the weekend, a group of tech CEOs including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and AMD’s Lisa Su attended a private screening of First Lady Melania Trump’s documentary in the White House.

Before we get into the headlines, a quick reminder that nominations are now open for the Forbes AI 50. The eighth annual list, with sponsoring partner Mayfield, will recognize the most promising startups deploying artificial intelligence to solve........

© Forbes