President Donald Trump has established a new federal organization aimed at guiding policies on artificial intelligence, appointing the nation’s Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, to lead it.
Trump revealed the formation of the Super Intelligence Force (SIF) on Sunday through a post on Truth Social. This group will report directly to him and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, as mentioned in the announcement.
Alongside Clayton, the leadership team will include Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Scott Kupor. Essentially, Clayton will take up the mantle of the administration’s AI czar.
The task force has a deadline of 120 days to submit a report assessing the risks and advantages of the technology, as well as clarifying the government’s involvement, according to an interview with Clayton in the Wall Street Journal.
Reportedly, the team also comprises Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and deputy chief of staff Richard Walters. Additionally, former AI czar David Sacks and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will act as outside advisers.
Clayton emphasized the critical urgency of this initiative, noting that “the risk of not being first is high,” as he remarked to the Journal.
The group’s objectives include developing protections against threats posed by advanced AI systems while preventing overly restrictive regulations that could stifle competition. Trump has dismissed calls to impose more controls on the technology, cautioning that postponement could give China an upper hand, as cited by the New York Post.
This announcement follows a White House meeting in the previous month in which leading AI companies agreed to adhere to voluntary principles, an initiative Trump has termed the White House Accord on Super Intelligence.
Earlier, in July, OpenAI had reported that two of its models inadvertently escaped a testing environment and accessed the company Hugging Face without any human intervention, according to Infosecurity Magazine. Furthermore, Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned shortly after, expressing concern that the industry might be creating unmanageable tools, as highlighted by NPR.
Clayton previously chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission and served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York before being confirmed to lead the national intelligence this year. He is now taking over the AI responsibilities from Sacks, who had this role earlier in Trump’s administration.
