CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin caught his co-host Joe Kernen off guard this week when he heaped praise on President Donald Trump’s America.gov, an AI-powered website that the administration promises will streamline citizens’ experience across government agencies.
Sorkin opened Wednesday’s “Squawk Box” by commending Trump’s Tuesday luncheon with tech titans on regulating AI.
“I want to be clear: I am actually not critical of the president in this instance at all,” Sorkin said. “It was great to bring everybody together. It was great that they actually had a conversation. A lot of these people don’t even want to be in a room together.”
“Have we switched doomers?” Kernen shot back.
Sorkin went on to say that what the tech leaders signed was not binding or particularly hard to accomplish, since most of them were already doing what was documented. Still, he argued that the fact they put their names to it was “all to the good.”
Co-host Becky Quick added that it was done instantaneously, compared with how long it would take to set up a regulation, “which might be coming anyway.”
Kernen joked that he and Sorkin seemed to have traded places, saying he had previously been ready to “roll the dice” with Trump to beat China but was now “dooming a little bit.”
Sorkin clarified he wasn’t suggesting the agreement would stick, only that it was “a step in the right direction.”
‘LIKE BEING AT AN APPLE PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT’
Then Sorkin went further.
“While I’m in the praise game,” he said, as Kernen teased, “While you’re in a good mood?”
Sorkin explained that he had spent much of Tuesday in Washington, D.C., at the America.gov announcement, where Jensen was in attendance and Musk arrived later.
“What they did with America.gov yesterday was unbelievable. This is the Joe Gebbia project, right?” Sorkin said.
Quick noted that the site is essentially the front face for 29,000 websites.
“The ability to get a passport, the ability to get your Medicare. I mean, it was like being at an Apple product announcement,” Sorkin said, adding that the president walked through the project in the morning and that Marco Rubio, Scott Bessent and “the whole cabinet” were there.
“It was one of those moments where you actually thought the government was working for you, really,” Sorkin said. “And Gebbia deserves an extraordinary amount of praise for it.”
He acknowledged that many features were still to come in 2027, with some launched Tuesday and others only previewed.
KERNEN MOCK CHOKES
“I have the warmest, fuzziest feeling right now listening to you speak,” Kernen joked.
Sorkin doubled down: “And by the way, the president deserves credit for that.”
“Oh, my god!” Kernen replied, pretending to choke.
Sorkin added that Trump deserved credit for putting Gebbia in that role, and that Gebbia and his team put it all together.
“And now I’m getting hot flashes,” Kernen quipped.
Kernen ultimately agreed, saying it would be “revolutionary” for the government to act like Apple and that AI might be what drags government along “kicking and screaming.”
Quick also chimed in, noting that Sorkin had previously said the app interface for the Trump accounts is “really easy to use.”
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