US President Donald Trump has named National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton and three other senior officials to lead a new "super intelligence force" tasked with protecting American interests in the field of artificial intelligence.
In an October 4 post on Truth Social, Trump said the force will be led by Clayton alongside Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor and Pentagon research and technology official Emil Michael. The announcement comes weeks after Trump said he would form an AI force and appoint an AI czar to help the United States lead on artificial intelligence, describing AI as "the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet."
Polls show deep public unease
The move lands amid growing public anxiety about the technology. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found 73% of Americans were concerned that AI could threaten human survival, with 81% saying safety is more important than innovation. A CNN poll last month found 71% believe the federal government is not doing enough to regulate AI.
"We've got to be concerned that guardrails that are rigid are put into place so that we don't see rogue AI agents behaving in a manner inconsistent with human values," House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in an October 1 interview with USA Today.
Scepticism extends to AI infrastructure. A University of Massachusetts Amherst poll in late August found only 11% of Americans would support building a data centre in their local community, while 65% would oppose it. Speaking to reporters on September 29, Trump defended expanding data centres, arguing that China "will take every data center that we don't want."
Light-touch stance from the White House
The force was announced days after Trump convened tech leaders, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, at a White House summit on AI, where the leaders signed a joint commitment to implement "robust internal processes and controls" so their technology behaves as intended. Speaking alongside the executives on September 29, Trump backed a light regulatory touch, saying the technology would be "very, very safe" thanks to self-policing and group-policing by the industry.
Sources:
- Trump names top aides to 'super intelligence' AI force. What to know (USA Today): https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...yton-super-intelligence-force-ai/92089693007/
In an October 4 post on Truth Social, Trump said the force will be led by Clayton alongside Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor and Pentagon research and technology official Emil Michael. The announcement comes weeks after Trump said he would form an AI force and appoint an AI czar to help the United States lead on artificial intelligence, describing AI as "the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet."
Polls show deep public unease
The move lands amid growing public anxiety about the technology. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found 73% of Americans were concerned that AI could threaten human survival, with 81% saying safety is more important than innovation. A CNN poll last month found 71% believe the federal government is not doing enough to regulate AI.
"We've got to be concerned that guardrails that are rigid are put into place so that we don't see rogue AI agents behaving in a manner inconsistent with human values," House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in an October 1 interview with USA Today.
Scepticism extends to AI infrastructure. A University of Massachusetts Amherst poll in late August found only 11% of Americans would support building a data centre in their local community, while 65% would oppose it. Speaking to reporters on September 29, Trump defended expanding data centres, arguing that China "will take every data center that we don't want."
Light-touch stance from the White House
The force was announced days after Trump convened tech leaders, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, at a White House summit on AI, where the leaders signed a joint commitment to implement "robust internal processes and controls" so their technology behaves as intended. Speaking alongside the executives on September 29, Trump backed a light regulatory touch, saying the technology would be "very, very safe" thanks to self-policing and group-policing by the industry.
Sources:
- Trump names top aides to 'super intelligence' AI force. What to know (USA Today): https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...yton-super-intelligence-force-ai/92089693007/
