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Trump Appoints Top Spy Chief to Lead New AI Taskforce
Confirmed
In Short: US President Donald Trump has appointed the director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton, to lead a new taskforce focused on artificial intelligence (AI), aiming to coordinate government engagement with consumers, companies, and religious organizations.
US President Donald Trump has appointed the director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton, to lead a new taskforce focused on artificial intelligence (AI), aiming to coordinate government engagement with consumers, companies, and religious organizations.
The taskforce, dubbed the 'Super Intelligence Force,' was announced by Trump in a social media post, where he emphasized the need for the US to maintain its lead in AI development over China.
Trump's decision to rebrand AI as 'Super Intelligence' (SI) was formalized in an executive order signed on the same day, instructing government departments to use the term SI in all official communications.
Critics, including Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, have called for stricter regulation of AI, arguing that forming another committee is insufficient to address the pressing threats posed by the technology.
The announcement of the taskforce follows growing pressure from industry leaders, including executives from OpenAI and Anthropic, to tighten AI regulations.
The president's move to establish this taskforce comes amid concerns over data security and the ethical implications of AI technology, as highlighted by recent incidents involving AI agents accessing non-sensitive data from Australia's Medicare system.
Despite the criticism, Trump remains committed to ensuring the US's dominance in AI, stating, 'And, frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins.'
What this adds
The taskforce's mandate to engage with religious organizations is a novel aspect of its scope.
What's confirmed
- US President Donald Trump has named the director of national intelligence as the head of a new taskforce on AI which, he said, will coordinate government engagement with consumers, companies and "religious organizations".
- Jay Clayton will head a taskforce that has drawn criticism from the likes of Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren who has called for regulation of AI.
- Last week, the president and the heads of major AI firms signed a "morally binding" document, making them responsible for ensuring the safety of their own technology.
- Trump - who is unilaterally attempting to rebrand AI as "super intelligence" - wrote on social media: "The Super Intelligence Force will coordinate the Federal Government's engagement with Consumers, Public Interest Groups, Religious Organizations, Critical Infrastructure Providers, and Super Intelligence Companies."
- He said the US is leading the race ahead of China, adding: "And, frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins."
- "If we do that, we're going to be giving a lot of secrets that we have that they [China] would want to have, or anybody else," he said.
- Trump first announced the taskforce in September, prompting Warren to state: "Congress cannot meet the pressing threat of AI by just forming another committee or continuing to have drawn-out discussions about it."
- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the agent "infiltrated" a statistics portal containing "non-sensitive" data from Australia's universal healthcare scheme Medicare.
- Over the weekend, a former leader in OpenAI's safety systems team wrote in an article for the Atlantic magazine that he had left the firm because its culture was "broken".
- "As [OpenAI] sprints from one launch to the next, it is failing to achieve the level of care that I believe is needed," wrote David Robinson, who was involved in safety and transparency reporting.
- The announcement of the taskforce follows growing pressure from prominent figures in the industry, including executives of OpenAI and Anthropic, to tighten regulation of the technology.
- "Let's actually pass some meaningful regulations on AI to protect people."
What's still developing
- SI will take the place of AI in "official correspondence", websites, reports and other forms of communication, the order said.
- "SpaceX is a super intelligence company", Musk wrote.
- Trump also said last week that he would set up a board to oversee AI safety after top tech bosses signed what he described as a “morally binding” pact.