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Technology

Trump announces 'AI Force' and AI czar, calling safety warnings a 'hoax'

Donald Trump said on Saturday he would form an 'AI Force' modelled on the Space Force and name an AI czar, while insisting artificial intelligence could account for 'possibly as much as 25%' of US GDP.

By Priya Raman · · Updated · 2 min read

Donald Trump speaking at a podium bearing the presidential seal
Photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 · source

Donald Trump said on Saturday that he plans to create an “AI Force” and appoint an artificial intelligence czar, as his administration resists growing calls for guardrails on the technology’s development.

Writing on Truth Social, the president repeated his claim that fears over AI amount to a hoax, but acknowledged the risks, saying: “we will also be looking for BAD, and we can do that, very easily, with our already existing Criminal and Civil Justice System.”

“For this purpose, I am forming the AI Force, much like I did Space Force, which has been a tremendous SUCCESS, in my First Term. To that end, I will be announcing, in the near future, the AI ‘Czar’ — Only High I.Q. individuals need apply!” Trump wrote. The Space Force, created in 2019, was the first new US military service since 1947.

Trump described AI as an economic and strategic priority, writing that it could be “possibly as much as 25%” of US gross domestic product, and that the United States leads China “and the rest of the World” — an advantage he said he intends to keep. “We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry,” he wrote.

It is not clear what form the force would take. CNN has asked the White House whether the AI czar role would be a military branch like the Space Force; the Wall Street Journal reported that officials have given no timeline and have not said whether it would be a military command, a civilian agency or a department.

On Sunday, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Michael Kratsios, told Fox News that the AI Force would coordinate the agencies working on AI issues, and dismissed calls for stronger safeguards as “hysterics” and “fearmongering”, the Journal reported.

The announcement comes amid rising pressure on Washington to act on AI safety. In recent weeks, industry leaders have publicly warned about the technology’s growing power; Trump has called the warnings a “SICK conspiracy” to undermine AI. Venture capitalist David Sacks served as Trump’s AI and cryptocurrency czar until March, when he stepped down as a special government employee, and now chairs the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

AI is set to loom over diplomacy this week: the administration will convene a high-level event on AI on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, CNN reported, and AI safety will be on the agenda when Trump meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who will attend a White House state dinner with technology executives including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Google’s Sundar Pichai.

Sources

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