5 ChatGPT Prompts To Make Customers Actually Care About Your Business

Business News

Your biggest competitor isn’t who you think. It’s not the company down the street or the brand with similar products. Your biggest competitor is apathy. The fact that someone could just not buy at all. But when you understand this, you can create compelling reasons for people to choose you.

Turn ChatGPT into your sales advantage machine. Stand out, solve real problems, and win the customers you deserve. Copy, paste and edit the square brackets in ChatGPT, and keep the same chat window open so the context carries through.

Stand out from the crowd: ChatGPT prompts to win more customers
Find out what they really want

Get inside your customer’s head. Figure out their deepest desires and burning frustrations. Most businesses guess what their customers want, but you’ll know for sure. Ask the right questions and create solutions that hit the mark every time.

“Help me understand my target customer’s true needs. First, ask me about my ideal customer profile in detail. Then, based on my answers, create a series of questions I should ask potential customers to uncover their real pain points. Focus on questions that reveal emotional triggers and unspoken needs. After we identify these key areas, suggest ways to position my offering as the perfect solution to their problems.”

Create your unique advantage
Stop trying to compete on price or features. Your edge lies in what makes you different. Maybe it’s your story, your approach, or your specific way of solving problems. Get clear on your unique value and watch customers pick you over everyone else.

“Using what you know about me, help me identify and leverage my unique advantages. Ask me questions about my background, experience, and approach to ensure a complete picture. Then analyze what sets me apart from others in my industry. Create a list of 5 unique selling points that will resonate with my target audience and suggest how to communicate these effectively in my marketing.”

Solve bigger problems
Want to win more customers? Solve bigger problems. Look beyond surface-level fixes to find the root causes that keep your target market up at night. When you tackle the real issues, price becomes less relevant and your value shoots up.
“Help me identify the deeper problems my target market faces. Ask about my main offering, then uncover the broader impact of the problems we solve. Suggest how we could expand our solution to address these larger challenges. Create specific ways to communicate this expanded value proposition.”
Build trust faster
Trust wins business. But building it takes time, unless you know the shortcuts. Create systems that demonstrate your expertise, showcase your results, and make potential customers feel confident choosing you. Get people believing in you before they even talk to you.
“Guide me in creating trust-building elements for my business. Based on my industry and target market, which you now know, suggest 5 specific ways to demonstrate credibility and expertise. For each suggestion, provide actionable steps to implement it. Include ideas for content, social proof, and customer experience that will build trust quickly.”
Make them move now
Combat customer apathy by creating urgency that makes sense. No fake scarcity or pushy tactics needed. Give people genuine reasons to take action today instead of putting it off until tomorrow. Your bank balance will thank you.
“Help me create ethical urgency in my sales process. Based on my main offer, suggest five legitimate reasons customers should act now rather than later. For each reason, provide specific language to communicate this urgency without being pushy. Include how to incorporate these messages into different marketing channels.”
Win more customers: prompts to boost your business
Stop competing on everyone else’s terms and create your own playing field. Understand what customers really want, showcase your unique advantages, and solve the problems that truly matter to them. Build trust faster than your competition and give people real reasons to act now. Overcome apathy to grow your business. Show your next customer why you’re the obvious choice.

Bucks Film Room: Breaking Down Gary Trent Jr.’s Three-Point Barrage

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

The first 13 games of the season were brutal for Milwaukee Bucks wing Gary Trent Jr. After failing to secure the multi-year contract he sought in the offseason, he joined a new team that stumbled out to a 4-9 start. To make matters worse, Trent Jr. found himself in one of the worst shooting slumps of his career.

Through those first 13 games, Trent Jr. shot a dismal 27.5 percent from three, making just 14 of his 51 attempts. Among the 114 players who took at least 50 threes during that span, he ranked 107th.

It was a start that not only tanked his confidence but also cost him his starting spot after seven games.

Despite the struggles, head coach Doc Rivers maintained trust in Trent Jr. as a shooter. That faith was soon rewarded.

Since November 17th, Trent Jr. has flipped the narrative, becoming the league’s hottest shooter. Among 152 players with at least 100 three-point attempts in that span, Trent Jr. leads the NBA, knocking down a staggering 50 percent of his shots from deep.
His resurgence was on full display Thursday night against the Miami Heat. Trent Jr. torched the Heat for seven threes on 10 attempts, tying the third-highest mark of his career and sparking a Bucks team fresh off an unexpected three-day layoff due to weather delays.

Let’s break down the film to see how Trent Jr. got hot against the Heat.
The Art of Transition Threes

The Bucks already boast one of the NBA’s most lethal transition finishers in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Now, they’ve added one of the league’s most dangerous transition shooters in Trent Jr.
According to NBA.com, Trent Jr. is making 40.6 percent of his three-point attempts within the first six seconds of the shot clock. While not all of these attempts come in traditional transition scenarios, the stat highlights his ability to capitalize on early offense and keep defenses scrambling.

Against Miami, two of his first-half threes came from transition opportunities.
The first came off a Heat turnover. Taurean Prince eventually corralled the loose ball and found Trent Jr. streaking down the left wing. With Bam Adebayo closing out weakly, Trent Jr. set his feet and drilled a triple.
Minutes later, Pat Connaughton grabbed a rebound, pushed the ball up the court, and cleared space by signaling Ryan Rollins to move out of the way. That created a lane for a pass to Trent Jr., who took one rhythm dribble and let it fly for his second three-pointer.
These plays illustrate how Milwaukee’s commitment to pushing the pace can maximize Trent Jr.’s skill set. His quick release and confidence in transition make him a nightmare for defenses that are still setting up.
Flashes of Pull-Up Shooting
While Trent Jr. is primarily a catch-and-shoot weapon, he’s shown he can create his own looks when needed. This season, 138 of his 177 three-point attempts have come without a dribble, but he’s quietly been effective off the bounce, converting 41 percent of his pull-up threes.
Connaughton brings the ball up the left side of the court before throwing it to Bobby Portis at the top of the key. Portis immeditiely turns to Trent Jr. to go into a dribble handoff motion. Trent Jr. comes off the screen, sees empty space in front of him and pulls the trigger for his third three of the first half. Yak Yak!
These moments are less frequent but add a valuable dimension to his game. They keep defenders honest and prevent him from being one-dimensional.
Bread and Butter
Trent Jr.’s real strength, however, lies in his catch-and-shoot ability. This skill is invaluable alongside Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, providing elite spacing and punishing defenses that collapse on Milwaukee’s stars.
Against Miami, four of his seven threes came via catch-and-shoot opportunities. Whether it was off ball movement or defensive lapses caused by the attention drawn to Antetokounmpo and Lillard, Trent Jr. capitalized repeatedly. His ability to relocate and stay ready makes him an ideal complementary piece in Milwaukee’s offense.
Much like the Bucks as a whole, Trent Jr. has engineered an impressive turnaround from a rocky start to the season. What once looked like a gamble for Milwaukee and a missed opportunity for Trent Jr. has transformed into a mutually beneficial success story. His elite shooting has re-established him as one of the league’s top floor spacers and given Milwaukee a vital piece in their pursuit of a championship.
This is exactly the opportunity Trent Jr. envisioned when he signed with the Bucks: a chance to rebuild his image on a competitive team, showcase his value on a national stage, and set himself up for a lucrative multi-year deal. But he’s done more than just salvage his season—he’s become a critical component of a Bucks offense built around Antetokounmpo and Lillard.
If Trent Jr. can sustain this level of performance, he won’t just rebuild his value; he’ll elevate it. Teams across the league will be watching closely as he helps Milwaukee push toward the postseason, knowing he can be a game-changer when paired with elite talent. For now, the Bucks will savor the fact that one of their early-season gambles has paid off in a big way.
At this rate, Trent Jr. isn’t just setting himself up for a bigger payday—he’s proving he can be a difference-maker for a team with championship aspirations.

Elon Musk ‘great friend’, being ‘falsely smeared’: Netanyahu defends tech mogul over salute row

Technology

Image Source : X X owner Elon Musk and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday defended tech mogul Elon Musk and said that he was being “falsely smeared” in a row over a gesture made by the billionaire at Donald Trump’s inauguration that drew criticism widely with netizens even calling it a “Nazi salute”.  

Greenland Offers Varied Activities For Adventurous Senior Travelers

Travel

Share to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to LinkedinAll eyes have been on Greenland recently after President Trump announced an interest in possibly purchasing the world’s largest island from Denmark. The picturesque country in the Arctic Ocean, northeast of Canada and northwest of Iceland with a population approaching 57,000, was already a popular destination for the cruise ship industry with many vessels choosing Greenlandic towns for their ports of call.

The number of active travelers over 60 is growing at a rapid pace as many seniors are shunning the perception of being couch potatoes. These travelers are still looking for adventure and new places to discover, but many well-known locations have become too crowded with tourists in recent years. Despite its often harsh and often mercurial weather, Greenland has become a popular tourist destination for adventurous senior travelers.
Greenland is one of the world’s most picturesque countries.Getty Images
The best time to visit Greenland depends on what you wish to experience. Each season has its own characteristics. For seniors, summer is often the most suitable time. Winter can be long, with heavy snow and often icy roads, which can make it difficult to get around and requires extra caution.

Greenland is undergoing significant development. With the opening of the international airport in Nuuk and new flight routes, traveling to Greenland has become easier than ever. For American travelers, it will become even more convenient when United Airlines launches a new route in the summer of 2025.

The Campbells have been traveling the world for more than 50 years.Gill and Alistair Campbell
Gill and Alistair Campbell, authors of the Bradt Guide to Greenland, the first English-language guidebook dedicated to this country, are both in their mid-70s and have been traveling the world for more than 50 years. Alistair says, “The guide’s aim is to enable others to enjoy their own epic adventures in this wild, beautiful and untouched Arctic land. The guide combines essential information – such as getting around on an island lacking roads connecting the major settlements – with advice on what to see and do, and where to stay and eat. Every chapter is infused with Greenland’s remarkable combination of pristine nature and traditional culture, which sets it apart from Arctic neighbors – and which makes a trip so rewarding.”
With breathtaking scenery and a wealth of culture, there is so much to explore. Greenland is an Inuit nation, they have lived on this island for thousands of years. Their inspiring story is told in tiny town museums, each set against the spectacular and pristine Arctic landscape. The world’s longest fjords cut deep gashes into mountainous terrain, the Arctic’s largest ice sheet stretches north for nearly two thousand miles, but it may be the history of a people who have prospered in this unforgiving land that is most inspiring.Dog sledding is a fun activity throughout the country.AFP via Getty Images
Alistair adds, “Dog sledding is hard to beat. Warm under reindeer skins, skimming across a frozen fjord pulled by a dozen eager dogs heading out for some fishing or to stay the night in a remote lodge or even an igloo. The coastal ferry is a favorite. It gets you from town to town along the coast while providing good food and accommodation and great company. We’ve traveled with children leaving their villages to attend school in the city, mothers returning from the birth of their first grandchild, workers off to start a new project in the far north and, of course, one or two tourists. Flying, too, can be fun. No big terminals nor planes seating hundreds. In Greenland your local flight is as likely to be by helicopter as by plane and, either way, the views are spectacular.”
There is a surprising amount of wildlife in Greenland, from musk oxen and caribou to arctic fox and white-tailed eagles and as many as 15 different species of whales. The Campbells have been known to just sit on a terrace with a local beer keeping a look-out for those whales while giant icebergs float past.
There are many activities well-suited for seniors. Boat trips in the fjord systems around Nuuk or among the icebergs near Ilulissat are very popular. Additionally, you can experience Greenlandic culture at museums or by participating in a “kaffemik” with a local. For those who enjoy walking, there are great opportunities to explore nature. Greenland officials have also created a guide specifically designed to help seniors experience the best of Greenland. The guide includes activity suggestions, travel tips and practical information.Greenland offers a wide array of exciting outdoor activities.Gill and Alistair Campbell
The Campbells offer the following advice:
* Dress in layers and always accept the offer of specialist clothing when going on a trip. Wear shoes with good grip soles and take walking poles.
* Pick up a local SIM card for your phone.
* If you choose to cruise then select one that starts or ends in Greenland so that you can add a few days at either end, you’ll not regret it.
* The best advice we received was say “yes.” Greenlanders are genuinely pleased to meet you and may invite you to join them for a meal – local food is as surprising as it is wonderful. You might also be invited to a ‘kaffemik’ – coffee mornings that go on all day – or to join them on their boat, sled or all-terrain vehicle. Say yes and you get to experience a part of their life, something you’ll never forget.Icebergs float behind the town of Kulusuk in Greenland.AFP via Getty Images
No matter the destination, seniors are traveling in record numbers to all corners of the world. Gary Murtagh, president of ElderTreks, which offers exotic adventures for Travelers 50 and over, says, “The demand for senior travel has increased. The tail end of the Baby Boomers is now in their 60’s. Many are looking at retirement, semi-retirement or for some, just a shift in life’s priorities. For many, this includes exploring the world and to experience some of its most precious and fascinating wildlife, landscapes, cultures and ancient sites. Many have no desire curb their curiosity and wanderlust as long as they stay healthy.”
He explains that in the late 80s, adventure travel was still viewed as somewhat fringe or niche in the travel industry. He adds, “Those days are long gone and one of the main reasons is the continual interest and demand from seniors who are looking for an unforgettable experience and adventure from African safaris, trekking in the Himalayas, Andes or Rockies, Polar exploration and to ancient sites of Egypt, Greece or Iran.”
One of the main considerations in terms of finding the right company for you digging deeper in terms of: Comfort level; What’s actually included from meals to activities, tipping, etc. Many companies advertise a very low price but then have meals and activities that you are continually paying for even after you paid for your trip; How much effort is put into creating well-thought-out, unique itineraries versus any company that can pretty much go online and rip off any run of the mill itinerary; Find out a little bit about the guides or tour leaders as your tour leader or guide can often make or break your travel experience.
MORE FROM FORBES

TikTok for business

Business News

Author and podcaster Will Francis asks: Is a TikTok presence really necessary for business?

Marketing has always operated on a simple principle – go where the audience is. In reality, marketers are slow to acknowledge where their audience’s attention is being directed. We saw it with the web, mobile and still today with social media.

But there’s something particularly daunting about TikTok, and yet it remains the most present opportunity to engage and rapidly scale an audience around absolutely anything. 

While LinkedIn is known for its professional gravitas and Facebook for its broad demographic, TikTok is often overlooked, dismissed as frivolous and concerned only with the viral trends of youth – not a place for the serious business of tech. It also demands that we venture in front of the camera. What do we shoot? How do we edit? Will we look stupid? 

TikTok’s potential for business
While there’s no denying that TikTok remains the domain of viral trends and challenges, amongst all the triviality is a surprising and vast array of content. With videos on every topic imaginable, TikTok is quickly becoming a useful resource not dissimilar to YouTube. Of course, its library is undeniably smaller – YouTube has had an almost 11-year head start – but that doesn’t take away TikTok’s potential. Or the opportunity it brings for any business willing to spend the time and effort necessary to maximise it.  

Part of this potential comes from TikTok’s format. Social media video holds tremendous power to connect – that’s why LinkedIn launched its Reels-style vertical video feed late last year. Video posts have greater reach, greater engagement, and greater sharing potential than any other media format. So, if you can create the right content, it becomes possible for a small business on a small budget to generate significant results. 

And you can do this without even paying for advertising, thanks to TikTok’s algorithms, which famously do the work of putting the right content in front of the right people.  But if you do choose to put money behind your content, results grow even faster.

That’s not to say that TikTok should be your only point of focus. LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook all have their own unique features, audiences and cultures. It all comes back to who you’re trying to resonate with. Where are they, and what do they already enjoy consuming and engaging with there? That’s your starting strategy in social media. Just remember that if you were to rank the big social platforms purely in order of the speed at which you can grow a relevant audience there, for most companies that would be TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook.

How to make TikTok work for you

Get to know the platform
There’s a tendency with people who don’t use a social media platform to go in blind, assuming that the same rules apply across the board. But this is rarely the case – if you don’t know a platform, you can’t expect to create content that resonates. You won’t understand how it works or what is expected from you. So, before you jump in, open a personal account and spend some time in your topic space. Screenshot anything you think works well. This will form your ‘swipe file’.. 

Focus on your people 
If you want to connect with your audience, forget about your products and brands. It’s people that make connections, it’s people who build loyalty, and sell. So, when you first start creating content, don’t showcase your innovation – showcase your people. Who they are, what they do, what they care about, and why. 

While highlighting your brand is obviously your first priority, you have to build trust, authenticity, and respect before you can expect people to listen as you brag about the things you’re good at and the benefits of your products. No one uses TikTok to look at ads, and if your content gives that vibe, the algorithms will quickly bury it. 

Find out what works
As a startup, no one is going to be watching what you say or do. That will come later, once you’ve created that viral video and built up a customer connection. So, the early days on TikTok, before you start paying for advertising, are all about experimentation. Finding out what appeals to your audience, refining your voice, and carving your niche.

Create as much content as you can – even if it’s just responding to trending topics. That’s how you’ll attract attention and eventually break out of the ‘800-view jail’.

Structure your content for success
That said, while you need to put out a lot of content, it still needs to be fit for purpose. Use the simple three-part structure – hook, intro, content. The hook is the first second or two that grabs attention. You don’t have to sensationalise or click-bait. Just put the most interesting thing first. Then the intro explains that a little more to those curious enough to linger, then the content is where you give value.

And that is always your focus. Tell don’t sell. Either entertain or inform the viewer without promoting.

Remember what you want from the platform
If there’s one thing that you shouldn’t use TikTok for, it’s driving traffic. Not only are users reluctant to navigate away from their feed, the platform actively discourages it. That’s not what TikTok is about. So, while you can include links in your bio and pay for ads, your primary focus for TikTok is to build your profile and enhance brand recognition. It won’t deliver rapid ROI, but it holds the potential to deliver dividends in the longer term. 

Remember that people of all ages and demographics are there (even if they don’t admit it!), so you don’t have to be ‘down with the kids’. As marketing titan Gary Vaynerchuk famously says ‘the creative is the targeting’. If you create unmissably valuable content, the algorithm will find the right people to show it to. Engineer your content for that, and your business can only benefit.  

Will Francis is a digital marketing expert who trains thousands of marketers each year at the top institutions including Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) and the American Marketing Association. He hosts ‘Ahead of the Game’, the DMI’s marketing podcast

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and 5./15 WEST

Top Picks 2025: United States Antimony (UAMY)

Technology

I have a new idea for you, one that’s much more speculative than gold. It’s a play on a mineral that our government wants as much of as it can possibly get. And yet, it’s in desperately short supply. I’m talking about antimony – and a company that mines it, United States Antimony Corp. (UAMY), remarks Sean Brodrick, editor at Weiss Ratings Daily.
Antimony is a shiny gray metalloid. It’s used as a fire retardant, as well as in things like photovoltaic glass and lead-acid batteries.
It’s also essential as a hardener in weapons of all sorts. The US Interior Department has listed antimony as a mineral critical to our economic and national security just like cobalt and uranium. And no wonder. Antimony is used as a hardening agent for bullets and tanks. Other armored vehicles, artillery shells, cruise missiles, and javelin missiles all contain antimony, too. 

China produces about half of the world’s antimony. Global supply was already tightening when China, the world’s biggest exporter, imposed export controls starting on Sept. 15. Then, more recently, China tightened the screws. It outright banned exports to the US of gallium, germanium, antimony, and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications. 
Oddly, this is not about the military (at least for now). Beijing is mad that the US is tightening restrictions on semiconductor exports to China. So, it hit back by stopping its critical metals exports to the US.
The price of antimony has already TRIPLED since May. No wonder, then, that Western governments are fast-tracking antimony mine developments and have been backing billion-dollar loans for similar mining projects. 
UAMY is an American company that operates the US’s only antimony mill in Montana, which runs at about 50% capacity. Interestingly, UAMY inked a deal recently to test another company’s antimony ore, with the idea of processing that in Montana. 
What’s more, United States Antimony recently staked 4,000 acres of claims in Alaska’s interior around an antimony mine that last produced ore in World War I. Why Alaska? Only four US states have known antimony deposits — Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Nevada. Alaska holds deposits of nearly all the 50 minerals that the US Geological Survey considers “critical” to the American economy and national security. 
I firmly believe this stock is going much higher as the hunger for antimony increases.
Subscribe to Weiss Ratings Daily here…

Travel, grant and funding cuts ‘stifling’ US health agencies in new Trump era

Travel

US health agency employees are now banned from nearly all travel and certain agencies and programs have been ordered to stop issuing new contracts and grants until further notice.The limits on travel and spending, announced internally on Wednesday, add to previous indefinite halts on external communications, including publishing new reports or even posting to social media, and on reviewing and approving new medical research, a nearly $50bn industry in the US.Employees of the 13 agencies overseen by US Health and Human Services (HHS) may only travel to return from assignments or to escape life-threatening situations. That means regular meetings with state and local health officials, training sessions and grant reviews are now on hold.All federal agencies have been ordered to stop funding for foreign projects, including global health, and to stop work immediately on any programs involving the World Health Organization. Some agencies have also been ordered to stop cutting checks for projects and programs.The mood at health agencies has been “nothing short of morose and somber”, said one CDC employee who requested anonymity because of the ban on communications.Most staff members have experienced administration transitions under Democratic and Republican presidents before, but this transition has signaled “a dramatic shift” in the second Trump administration’s approach to federal agencies, especially those working on health and science, the employee said.Agencies are still grappling with the outpouring of executive orders and how to interpret them, the employee said. The uncertainty amid these changes has left federal employees with “an overwhelming sense of dread and hopelessness”.Halting vital response efforts and research, even temporarily, could take years to undo, the employee added.Outbreak response will suffer from the bans on travel and communications, which is particularly dangerous given the evolving outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu among animals and people, experts said.“The US is in a critical period in responding to H5N1,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center and professor of epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. “Any actions that slow or prevent the ability of US scientists to collect, analyze and disseminate data will weaken our abilities to track and protect ourselves from this virus.”If, for example, a state detects a new pattern of transmission or a new cluster of cases in people, officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) might not receive clearance for a “mission critical” exception for travel to that state to aid in outbreak response or even to communicate with the state or the public.“Stifling the ability of these agencies to participate in public health conversations and to mount unbridled responses to outbreaks is a terrible idea with predictable outcomes that will include unnecessary infections, disability and deaths,” said Ilan Schwartz, an infectious disease doctor in North Carolina.The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is tracking the bird flu outbreak among animals, is not an HHS agency and thus may continue its work.But HHS agencies like the CDC and FDA, as well as others including Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Indian Health Service, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services administration, are now forced to curtail their activities.The unprecedented halt to US medical research through the NIH also announced on Wednesday meant meetings were canceled, some right before they were scheduled to happen and others that were stopped halfway through.Researchers on social media spoke about cancer research grinding to a halt as participants wait for experimental treatments and the effects the shutdown would have on universities and scientific advancement around the world.Funding from the NIH is “the lifeblood of the entire US biomedical research enterprise, which is a cornerstone of the US economy”, Schwartz said. The agency directly funds more than 400,000 jobs, and every $1 spent by the NIH generates $2.46 of economic activity.The transition to the new administration has created uncertainty in other ways. There is currently no one formally in charge at the CDC, with no acting head named.Trump’s nominee for CDC director, Dave Weldon, who has previously proposed breaking off the vaccines division of the agency, has not yet been scheduled for a nomination hearing before the Senate.Robert F Kennedy Jr, the nominee to oversee HHS, is slated to appear before the Senate finance committee on Wednesday.

How Trump silenced tech giants on his Paris withdrawal

Technology

Tech titans directed a wave of criticism at President Donald Trump’s move to abandon the Paris climate agreement — eight years ago.
When he did the same thing this week, they ignored it.
The differences between 2017 and now are stark: Heat-trapping emissions continue to rise globally, and disasters are accelerating.That comes as the tech industry’s energy needs have grown in part because of power-hungry data centers related to artificial intelligence and other technologies. One result is a closer connection between a president who champions fossil fuels and executives in Silicon Valley who appear less willing to question his move to abandon the global climate pact.

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“Optimistic and celebrating,” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said minutes after Trump ordered the nation’s exit from the Paris Agreement.
Zuckerberg’s post — while not a direct response to Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris deal — included an American flag emoji and a grinning photo of him with his wife Priscilla Chan in black-tie and formal attire. They were preparing to co-host an inaugural ball for Trump, who last year threatened to jail the Meta CEO.
The heads of Apple, Microsoft and Google, meanwhile, offered “congratulations” to the president and reportedly donated millions of dollars to his inaugural committee.
“Eight years ago many tech leaders rightly condemned Trump’s withdrawal from Paris,” said Bill Weihl, Facebook’s former director of sustainability who later founded the environmental advocacy group ClimateVoice. “Their silence now is cowardly, complicit in reinforcing the status quo fossil fuel economy, and shows that they care more about their own profits than the American people.”
Apple, Google and Meta didn’t respond to requests for comment. Microsoft declined to provide a response.
“Silicon Valley is embracing President Trump because they have been failed by the Democrats’ weak and incompetent leadership for the last four years,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement. “American energy is being unleashed.”
The president has linked his campaign pledge to promote oil and gas development with a desire — shared by many in Silicon Valley — to “win the A.I. arms race with China (and others),” as Trump put it when selecting former North Dakota Gov. Doug Bergum to lead the Interior Department and a planned National Energy Council. Trump sees the production of additional fossil fuels as key to achieving the country’s AI aims. (Former President Joe Biden also prioritized the development of artificial intelligence but sought to power the technology with new renewable energy installations.)
Trump has already recruited OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle to spearhead a $500 billion AI and data center megaproject known as Stargate. The energy sources for the initiative haven’t been announced.
“It is clear that everyone’s afraid to offend the president,” said David Victor, professor of innovation and public policy at the University of California, San Diego, who spoke with POLITICO’s E&E News from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Logically, it’s because they’re worried about retaliation, and they’re worried about keeping whatever favors they think they can get from government.”
The tech industry’s new approach to Trump was led by Elon Musk, the CEO of electric carmaker Tesla and another one-time critic of the president’s climate policy. He was joined by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who during the Biden administration committed $10 billion of his personal fortune to launch an eponymous environmental group. Both billionaires attended Trump’s second inauguration, along with Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. Amazon spokesperson August Green said the online retailer remains committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions across its globally operations by 2040.
Tech and Trump, no longer on the rocks
Trump has long been skeptical of international institutions and deals. He found the United Nations-brokered Paris Agreement particularly irksome.
Trump initially deliberated over leaving the climate pact from the outset of his first term, and several of his close advisers and Cabinet members argued against it. They reasoned that it would be better to have influence over the rules governing emissions and clean energy than to be outside the process.
Cook, the Apple CEO, privately lobbied Trump to uphold the deal. Publicly, his company signed onto an open letter — along with Google, Microsoft and Facebook — that urged the president to stay in the 2015 Paris pact.
Trump didn’t.
The reaction from Silicon Valley following his June 1, 2017, announcement that he was leaving was quick and critical. Musk quit the White House’s business councils, and other tech CEOs took to social media to criticize the decision.
“Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement is bad for the environment, bad for the economy, and it puts our children’s future at risk,” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook at the time. Cook tweeted that Trump’s move was “wrong for our planet.” Pichai said he was “disappointed with today’s decision.” Microsoft’s Satya Nadella added that “climate change is an urgent issue that demands global action.”
They all joined a coalition in 2017 that eventually became America Is All In, a group of leaders from states, cities, businesses and beyond that has vowed to help the United States achieve its promised emissions reductions. Facebook and Microsoft even submitted climate action plans that outlined their proposals for reducing carbon emissions.
In 2020, Microsoft shocked corporate America when it made a “carbon negative” commitment for the end of the decade, promising to remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits. Apple, Google and Facebook all followed with more modest carbon neutrality pledges for 2030.
The next year, Joe Biden became president and immediately rejoined the Paris Agreement, making climate action a pillar of his administration. When the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, providing hundreds of billions of dollars for climate and clean energy projects, many tech companies redoubled their efforts to decarbonize.
At the same time, the giants of Silicon Valley were pouring billions of dollars into developing AI applications — and the data centers and energy infrastructure needed to run them. Microsoft’s emissions have jumped 29 percent since the company announced its carbon negative pledge in 2020. Google’s emissions have soared by 67 percent over the same period.
“As we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging due to increasing energy demands from the greater intensity of AI compute, and the emissions associated with the expected increases in our technical infrastructure investment,” Google said in its 2024 environmental report.
Silicon Valley sours on Biden
While many technology firms welcomed Biden’s climate policy, they sharply differed with him on other issues that are central to their profitability. The Biden administration took a hard line against tech consolidation, opening antitrust cases against Google and probing Microsoft and the chipmaker Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company.
Biden also sided with labor in a high-profile unionization drive at Amazon and criticized the company and its founder for not paying more in taxes amid a spike in inflation. Bezos responded by accusing the White House of “misdirection.”
The Biden administration publicly sparred with Musk as well, who eventually became the biggest financial supporter of Trump’s campaign, despite their differences on climate policy.
When Trump won back the White House, Bezos and a steady stream of other tech executives flew to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to meet with the Republican leader, who rejects the basic tenets of climate science.
Analysts and advocates expect the companies to continue pursuing their decarbonization commitments in the second Trump era, albeit with less vigor and fanfare.
“Investors and companies understand that the demand for energy is changing, and that diversified businesses are poised to be the energy companies of the future,” said Kirsten Spalding, vice president of the investor network at Ceres, a group of institutional investors advocating for climate action.
She doesn’t put too much weight on the withdrawal from Paris, arguing that what happens on the ground is what matters: “It’s like putting a billboard up, but it doesn’t actually change the work,” Spalding said.
Victor, the University of California professor, said there is a disconnect between what’s happening in Silicon Valley and Davos, the exclusive Swiss conference featuring many of the world’s biggest corporations.
Executives who attended the conference this week talked up corporate efforts to deploy carbon capture technology and invest in battery storage and solar.
Meanwhile, “their bosses are kissing the ring,” Victor said.
Trump, in his own speech to the Davos crowd Thursday, told them how he would unleash America’s “liquid gold” and build new fossil fuel-fired power plants to run data centers.
Then he took questions from corporate heavyweights. No one asked about climate change.