US President Donald Trump says he has created a new taskforce focused on artificial intelligence, which will be led by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton.
The “Super Intelligence Force” will work to ensure that the US continues to lead in the technology’s development and will coordinate the government’s engagement with the public, Trump posted on Sunday.
It comes after the president signed an executive order on 29 September to rename AI as Super Intelligence, after previously saying the word artificial made it sound “fake”.
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.
“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,” Trump wrote.
Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson and Undersecretary of Defense for Research, Engineering Emil Michael and Director of the Office of Personnel Management Scott Kupor will also be part of the taskforce.
It will report directly to the president and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
The taskforce’s chief, Clayton, took office as the US national intelligence director in August after Trump’s original choice, Bill Pulte, was rejected by lawmakers.
On AI, Clayton has previously said: “When something’s both an opportunity and a threat, you better get your arms around it.”
Clayton previously served as US attorney for the Southern District of New York, overseeing several prominent cases, including the drug trafficking case against former Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro.
The announcement of the taskforcefollows growing pressure from prominent figures in the industry, including executives of OpenAI and Anthropic, to tighten regulation of the technology.
In an interview published on 4 October, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said the benefits of AI justify accepting some of its risks and argued that the technology should remain accessible to the public.
“The world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency,” Altman told Politico’s technology-focused newsletter Decoded.
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 BBC has contacted OpenAI for comment.
Last month, the ChatGPT-maker pulled the release of its latest AI model due to safety concerns.
Its AI models have come under scrutiny after a series of cyber security incidents involving its technology, including an unauthorised breach of Australian government systems.
Trump has dismissed calls for stronger oversight and largely left it to AI companies to regulate themselves.
The pact signed on 29 September includes the signatures of executives from top tech firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX and Google.
On the same day, the president signed an executive order instructing US government departments and agencies to start using the terms “SI” and “Super Intelligence” and should no longer acknowledge the use of the term artificial intelligence.
SI will take the place of AI in “official correspondence”, websites, reports and other forms of communication, the order said.
Some experts have questioned the logic of the rebranding, arguing that the use of “super intelligence” could cause confusion as it refers to more advanced systems.
Some top tech leaders have already started to use the new name, including multi-billionaire Elon Musk, who said on social media on Sunday that he will rename his firm’s AI platform SpaceXAI as SpaceXSI.
“SpaceX is a super intelligence company”, Musk wrote.
The Tesla boss has recently been brought back into the US government to be part of a project to study the future of war.
Musk previously served in the Trump administration, heading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, before his tenure ended in a public spat with Trump.
Source: BBC
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