Trump launches Super Intelligence Force with Jay Clayton as AI czar

Trump announces the Super Intelligence Force

President Donald Trump has announced the creation of a Super Intelligence Force, a new federal task force meant to coordinate the government's work on advanced AI. According to TechCrunch, Trump made the announcement in a Sunday morning post on Truth Social, saying the group would ensure "America continues to lead the World in Super Intelligence, which many say is bigger than the Industrial Revolution, and the Internet," while protecting the interests and improving the lives of Americans.

The launch follows through on a pledge Trump made in September. As TechCrunch notes, he made that promise while largely dismissing the AI safety debate as a politically motivated hoax, but said he would still create an AI force and appoint an AI czar.

Who sits on the task force

Citing The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch reports that Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton will chair the force, which in practice makes him the administration's AI czar. He will be supported by three vice chairs: Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, and Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor.

Clayton has previously argued that it would be irresponsible for the United States to step back from AI while countries such as China push ahead. He struck a similar note in comments to the Journal, saying that one of the biggest risks is "not being first."

A 120-day deadline

The task force has reportedly been given 120 days to produce a report on the risks and opportunities that AI presents. According to the Journal, its charter directs it to "develop plans for responding to SI-enabled threats to our society, while preventing overregulation and regulatory capture that would stifle innovation and competition."

Pairing threat preparedness with an explicit warning against overregulation suggests the group's output will lean toward competitiveness rather than new guardrails, though the report itself will be the first concrete evidence of its direction.

From AI to "super intelligence"

The task force's name reflects a broader messaging shift. TechCrunch reports that Trump signed an executive order seeking to rebrand AI as "super intelligence," and that tech executives who gathered at the White House this week to sign a non-binding safety pledge have taken up the new terminology, if not always smoothly.

Why it matters

The move concentrates federal AI coordination under the intelligence apparatus and a small group of agency heads spanning the FTC, the Department of War and the Office of Personnel Management, rather than a standalone science or safety body. The charter's framing, together with Clayton's emphasis on the danger of "not being first," indicates that the US-China race will be the central lens through which the government evaluates AI policy.

For AI developers, the report due within 120 days could shape how federal agencies treat safety commitments and competition questions going forward. For everyone else, it offers an early read on how the administration intends to govern a technology it has deliberately chosen to rebrand as super intelligence.