Trump creates new Super Intelligence Force to coordinate federal AI policy

US President Donald Trump announced the creation of a new federal task force called the Super Intelligence Force in a Sunday post on his social media platform Truth Social. According to Trump, the body will coordinate federal government efforts to keep the United States leading the world in what he calls super intelligence, a technology he compared in scale to the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the internet.

The group will be chaired by national intelligence director Jay Clayton, effectively making him the administration's top official on AI and super-intelligence policy. He will be joined by three vice chairs: Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, and Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor.

Background

The announcement follows a pledge Trump made in September, when, responding to debate over AI safety that he has largely dismissed as a fabrication by political opponents, he said he would form an AI force and name an AI czar. He subsequently signed an executive order aimed at rebranding artificial intelligence as "super intelligence," a term that was also adopted this week by tech executives who gathered at the White House to sign a non-binding safety pledge.

Mandate and timeline

The task force reportedly has 120 days to deliver a report assessing the risks and opportunities posed by AI. Its charter is said to call for developing plans to respond to threats enabled by the technology while avoiding overregulation that could stifle innovation and competition. Clayton has previously argued that the US cannot afford to pull back from AI development while rivals such as China keep advancing, framing the greatest risk as failing to be first.