By Alexandra Alper, Courtney Rozen and Erin Banco
WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump is expected to name US Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to be his top adviser on AI, a position the president has called "AI czar" in the past, according to a source familiar with the decision.
Clayton already oversees 18 US intelligence agencies as the nation's top spy. Tapping Clayton to fill the role could signal a shift for Trump whose first AI czar, venture capitalist David Sacks,
was a longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor.
"Any personnel announcement will be announced directly by the president," a White House official said in a statement to Reuters when asked about Clayton being selected for the position. "Any reporting until then is baseless speculation."
The news was first reported by CBS.
Last month, Trump said he plans to appoint an artificial intelligence adviser, known as an "AI czar," and create an "AI force," though he gave no details about either initiative or how they would be implemented.
Trump's move comes as top AI researchers have warned that people building AI believe it could kill humans within a decade, following cases of AI agents going rogue to hack external systems. Several Democratic and Republican lawmakers have responded with alarm and calls for more action.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson, Daphne Psaledakis, Courtney Rozen and Alexandra Alper; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Michelle Nichols and Chizu Nomiyama)
