Read as article
Trump Taps Spy Chief Jay Clayton as New AI Czar
By @sharedot · · 7 pages
- AI
- AI Policy
- Jay Clayton
President Trump named intelligence chief Jay Clayton to lead a new White House AI task force, the 'Super Intelligence Force,' as concerns mount.
What happened: a spy chief takes the AI portfolio
President Donald Trump confirmed Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton as head of a new White House task force on artificial intelligence, announced via Truth Social on Sunday. The group is called the "Super Intelligence Force" — Trump's preferred term for AI — and Clayton will keep his intelligence role while taking it on. According to CNBC, the task force will have 120 days to research AI's risks and opportunities and offer recommendations on the federal government's responsibilities.
Why it is surprising
The pick hands a coordinating role over the country's most consequential technology to a Wall Street lawyer with no tech industry background. CNBC reports the task force will also include FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Defense under secretary Emil Michael, and OPM director Scott Kupor. The Economic Times quotes analyst Dan Ives calling Clayton a "golden asset" respected by both tech leaders and government, while CSIS's Aalok Mehta notes he lacks Sacks's deep technology background but has rich experience navigating federal bureaucracy.
The evidence: timing amid rogue-AI alarms
Days before the announcement, tech bosses met Trump at the White House and signed a commitment to self-police their AI models — an accord the president described as "morally binding." Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman have called for federal guardrails, yet Trump has resisted tighter regulation, arguing a slowdown would hand Chinese firms an advantage. Clayton told the Wall Street Journal that "the risk of not being first is high."
The stakes: primacy versus safety
By giving the AI portfolio to the nation's top spy, Trump appears to accept that the technology poses real dangers for cybersecurity while remaining central to the geopolitical rivalry with China, a reading The Economic Times attributes to CFR fellow Connor Martin. The task force will coordinate federal engagement with consumers, public interest groups, religious organisations, critical infrastructure providers and AI companies, per CNBC. At the same time, The Economic Times reports that industry sources do not expect Clayton to preside over any major regulatory effort, and voter pressure on lawmakers to curb or slow AI is growing over fears of job displacement and social disruption.
What comes next
The Economic Times notes Clayton will not be the only voice in the president's ear: Sacks, Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk all retain influence over the administration's approach. An industry source told The Economic Times that wins would look like "coherence" and clarity in policy rather than new rules. Observers will watch whether a second hat for the intelligence chief proves workable, with law professor Carl Tobias calling juggling two major jobs a challenge.