WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump named National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton and three others to lead a "super intelligence force" tasked with protecting American interests when it comes to artificial intelligence.
In an Oct. 4 Truth Social post, the president said the force will be led by Clayton, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor and Pentagon research and technology official Emil Michael. The announcement comes weeks after Trump posted on social media that he would form an AI force and appoint an AI czar to help the country lead on artificial intelligence issues, describing AI as "the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet."
As AI technology has progressed, some have
voiced concerns that it could be dangerous, especially if it goes unregulated.
"We've got to be concerned that guardrails that are rigid are put into place so that we don't see rogue AI agents behaving in a manner inconsistent with human values," House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in an Oct. 1 interview with USA TODAY.
In a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, 73% of Americans said they were concerned that AI could threaten human survival, with 81% saying safety is more important than innovation. A CNN poll released last month found that 71% of Americans believe the federal government isn't doing enough to regulate AI.
Many Americans have also expressed skepticism toward AI data centers. In a poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst in late August, 11% of Americans said they would support building a data center in their local community, while 65% said they would oppose it.
However, speaking to reporters Sept. 29, Trump defended expanding data centers in the country, saying China "will take every data center that we don't want... because that's great for China."
"Well, it's great for us, and we're leading by a lot, and we're going to keep it that way," Trump added.
Trump announced the force just days after convening tech leaders including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for a White House summit focused on AI. The leaders signed a joint commitment to implement "robust internal processes and controls to ensure that their technology behaves as intended."
Speaking to reporters alongside the tech leaders Sept. 29, Trump appeared to back a light regulatory touch from the government as the technology develops.
"It's going to be very, very safe. And there's a self-policing, and there's also a group-policing, and it's going to be great," Trump said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump names top aides to 'super intelligence' AI force. What to know
