A.I. Leaders at Sun Valley 2026—Alongside Old Friends and New Alliances

July 9, 2026 / Sophie Clearwater /

Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani (2L) and his wife, Haruko Mikitani, are seen attending the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference at the Sun Valley Lodge on July 8, 2026, in Sun Valley, Idaho. Getty Images

This year’s Allen & Co. conference is well underway in Sun Valley, Idaho. Like last year’s and the year before, A.I. looms large at the annual gathering once best known for its roster of media moguls. In recent years, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and Apple’s Tim Cook are among the tech titans who have become returning guests. This year is no different. Outside the quaint Sun Valley Lodge, founders and CEOs drift in and out of view, rubbing shoulders with one another and with power players from across industries.

Little is ever revealed about the weeklong retreat’s agenda or the substance of its many panel discussions. The conference’s organizer, the famously discreet investment firm Allen & Co., allows a small group of journalists to photograph attendees only outside the main venue, as they move about the resort. So we are left to read as much as possible into these images—especially the group shots and sometimes the absence of familiar faces—for clues of friendship, rivalry, complicated alliances and possible business synergies.

In Sun Valley this week, Sheryl Sandberg is seen joyfully catching up with her former Meta colleague marne levine, strolling alongside energy tech investor Phil Deutsch; Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, radiating social energy, makes small talk with Wendi Murdoch and investor Henry Ellenbogen; Palantir’s Alex Karp appears deep in conversation with Alexandre Arnault, the middle son of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault, along a winding summer path; and Jeff Bezos and his new wife remain as inseparable as ever.

At the other end of the spectrum, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Notion founder Ivan Zhao look perfectly at ease walking alone behind dark shades, while Sam Altman and his board chairman Bret Taylor meet the cameras head-on with relaxed smiles, as if they have nothing to hide.