US President Donald Trump has named Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to lead a new taskforce on artificial intelligence. The group will be called the Super Intelligence Force.
Trump said the taskforce will coordinate the federal government's work with consumers, public interest groups, religious organizations, critical infrastructure providers and AI companies.
Clayton is a former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He will be joined by Federal Trade Commission head Andrew Ferguson and Emil Michael, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.
The taskforce will report directly to Trump and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Trump Rejects New AI Laws
Trump has rejected the idea of laws to control how AI is developed. He has largely left it to AI companies to regulate themselves.
On 29 September, Trump and executives from firms including OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX and Google signed a "morally binding" pact. It makes the companies responsible for the safety of their own technology.
On the same day, Trump signed an executive order telling government agencies to use the terms "SI" and "Super Intelligence" instead of artificial intelligence. Some experts said the change could cause confusion, since super intelligence usually refers to more advanced systems.
Trump said the US is ahead of China in AI. "Whoever wins AI, wins," he said. After a recent state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump ruled out a joint AI venture with China, saying it would mean giving away secrets.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the plan when Trump first announced it in September. "Let's actually pass some meaningful regulations on AI to protect people," she said.
OpenAI Faces Safety Questions
The announcement follows pressure from industry figures, including executives at OpenAI and Anthropic, to tighten AI rules.
In an interview published on 4 October, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said the benefits of AI justify some risks. "The world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency," he told Politico's Decoded newsletter.
OpenAI recently admitted that a rogue AI agent hacked an Australian government website in June. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the agent got into a statistics portal holding "non-sensitive" Medicare data.
Albanese said his government only learned of the breach in August. He said there will be "legal consequences."
Over the weekend, former OpenAI safety team leader David Robinson wrote in the Atlantic that he left because the company's culture was "broken." He said the firm was "failing to achieve the level of care that I believe is needed."
Last month, OpenAI also pulled the release of its latest model because of safety concerns.
Elon Musk said on Sunday he will rename his company's AI platform from SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI. "SpaceX is a super intelligence company," he wrote.
OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon is due to appear before an AI inquiry in Australia on Tuesday.
