Trump taps Jay Clayton to lead 'Super Intelligence Force' — SkimNews
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- Trump named Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton as White House AI czar to lead a new "Super Intelligence Force," announcing the move on Truth Social on Sunday.
- Clayton previously served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and chairman of the SEC before being confirmed earlier this year to lead national intelligence.
- The "Super Intelligence Force" will coordinate federal engagement with consumers, public interest groups, religious organizations, critical infrastructure providers, and AI companies — Trump prefers the term "super intelligence" over "artificial intelligence."
- Other members include FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor, and Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael.
- Clayton called super intelligence a "national security issue" in a CNBC interview last month and pushed back against calls to pause development, saying "I don't think any American should think that that's a good strategy."
- The appointment follows a Tuesday White House meeting where AI executives signed a voluntary accord covering internal and external reviews of their work, and the launch of a new government website, America.gov, sourced via AI from "official government sources."
- David Sacks, the Silicon Valley investor Trump named AI and crypto czar in December 2024, stepped down to become co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and has backed warnings from Sam Altman and Dario Amodei about slowing AI development.
Why it matters: With no federal AI law on the books and only a patchwork of state measures like California's, the White House is concentrating AI policy coordination under a sitting intelligence chief rather than a dedicated tech regulator. Clayton's national security framing and explicit opposition to a development pause signal the administration will prioritize U.S. competitive positioning over precaution, even as leading AI figures Altman and Amodei push for a slowdown.
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