OpenAI boss Altman meets government: Tech bros with free choice of appointments with chancellor and ministers

People know each other, they value each other: Sam Altman visited the Chancellor or his ministers five times last year for direct discussions. Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger (CDU) praised the head of the ChatGPT developer OpenAI for his “incredible vision” at the “Axel Springer Award” ceremony last year. At the same time, he held out the prospect of weaker data protection rules: the aim was to “give AI the training data it needs,” said Wildberger.

US tech companies in particular apparently have a free choice of dates in Berlin if necessary. This is shown by research by the non-governmental organizations Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and LobbyControl. According to the analysis, between the inauguration of the black-red federal government in May 2025 and last September, there were 103 meetings with non-European tech companies at the highest level, an average of 1.5 per week. Google leads with 28 meetings, followed by Microsoft, Apple and OpenAI with 18, 16 and 11 meetings. Four meetings with the Chinese Tiktok company Bytedance are also on the list. The information comes from answers to parliamentary questions.

According to the investigation, the discussions were primarily about dismantling European data protection standards. Under the pretext of promoting innovations in the field of artificial intelligence, the tech giants influenced the change of opinion in the European Council, especially in Germany, but also in Ireland, according to Lobby Control and CEO. “While there is debate around the world about the dangers of artificial intelligence, the federal government is siding with the AI ​​companies,” says Lobbycontrol campaigner Felix Duffy.

According to the analysis, between June 2025 and January 2026, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) met the bosses of Apple and OpenAI as well as high-ranking representatives of Google and Nvidia. Digital Minister Wildberger spoke to the US tech giants 18 times. The actual number of meetings is likely to be higher because the federal government does not systematically publish the meetings.

According to Lobbycontrol, the visits of the tech billionaire Altman to Berlin are noteworthy. Within just four months, he met 5 times at the highest level: with Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and with Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil (SPD), whom he also wooed with his “OpenAI for Germany” initiative for the use of AI in public services. In addition, Altman dated Digital Minister Wildberger three times. It was about “exchange on digital policy issues”. Lobbycontrol finds this statement “very vague” – a freedom of information request is now intended to find out the exact content of the conversations.

The study emphasizes that Wildberger “adopted the central demands of the AI ​​lobby” in the debate about the so-called digital omnibus. Lobby control expert Duffy: “Instead of reducing Europe’s dependence on US companies, the EU states also hand over our data to them.”

In October 2025, the federal government presented a position paper that is likely to have consequences for the protection of the personal data of millions of Europeans. It proposes restricting citizens' access to their data stored on online platforms. Processing such requests could involve “disproportionate effort” for companies. According to the analysis, Google also used the same formulation in a letter to the federal government.

During a visit to Brussels, Wildberger made Germany's position on the digital omnibus clear to EU Commissioner Henna Virkkunen, who is responsible for data protection and AI: they want to "radically simplify" the rules and strive for "more freedom in data use and AI development".

The digital omnibus would enable companies to train AI models with personal data and operate them with them. Last week, the Council of the EU agreed to dismantle data protection rules. Civil society organizations warned that this could also have consequences for applications such as facial recognition, sexualized deepfakes and disinformation campaigns.

At the EU level, the tech bros from the USA have also influenced the conflict over data protection with their lobbying power. According to the investigation, representatives of Facebook parent Meta met with 41 MPs for the digital omnibus, Google had 30 meetings. In total, the CEO and Lobby Control identified 655 lobby meetings with EU politicians and authorities on this topic. 83 percent of the meetings recorded took place with company representatives, only 11 percent with civil society organizations or unions.

Because it is so successful, tech companies are investing more and more money in lobbying. In 2025, according to Lobby Control, the industry increased its spending on this in Brussels to a record level of 151 million euros. The number of full-time lobby positions rose from 699 to 890 between 2023 and 2025 alone.