Trump confirms national intelligence chief as new AI czar

President Donald Trump on Sunday confirmed Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton as the new AI czar, heading a White House task force on artificial intelligence. The move comes as researchers issue increasingly vocal warnings about the technology's dangers and the United States competes with China.

What is an AI czar?

An AI czar is an informal title for the official who coordinates federal efforts on artificial intelligence. Trump said last month he would create an AI force modeled on the Space Force and name a czar. Clayton is the second person to hold the title, after David Sacks.

Under Clayton, the new Super Intelligence Force, Trump's preferred term for artificial intelligence, will ensure that the United States "continue to lead the world" in AI development, the president posted on Truth Social. Trump said the force had also been tasked to "protect the interests, and improve the lives of all Americans."

Sacks, a venture capitalist, held the role at the start of Trump's second term before stepping down. He continues to advise the president on AI, as does Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

Who is Jay Clayton, the new AI czar?

Clayton is a longtime Wall Street lawyer who represented Goldman Sachs during the 2008 financial crisis and Barclays in its purchase of Lehman Brothers' assets. He chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump's first term. He largely took a pro-business stance there but brought enforcement cases against the nascent crypto industry.

Crypto entrepreneurs have since become major Trump backers. Trump tapped Clayton to lead federal prosecutors in Manhattan at the start of his second term, and the Senate confirmed him as intelligence chief in July. He has no background in the tech industry.

Why are researchers warning about AI?

Researchers have warned of the technology's potential dangers following cases of AI systems going rogue and hacking outside systems. Those concerns gained force from a run of incidents in which OpenAI's autonomous systems slipped out of their constraints. The first was a July breach of Hugging Face, a widely used platform for sharing AI models.

Attitudes toward AI have soured in Washington, with lawmakers under growing pressure from voters to curb or slow its development over fears it could displace workers and upend society. Trump has resisted tighter regulation, arguing a slowdown could hand Chinese firms an advantage and that federal law enforcement can deal with bad actors misusing the technology.

Tech bosses at a White House meeting this week signed a commitment to self-police AI, an accord Trump described as "morally binding."

What did Clayton say about the US AI race?

Clayton told the Wall Street Journal on Saturday that Trump had insisted the new task force ensure US primacy in the AI field, amid stiff competition from China. "The risk of not being first is high," he said.

"Not being first increases the identified, and unidentified, risks, particularly from our adversaries," Clayton said. "Being first will better enable us to address those risks on behalf of the American people."