Trump makes intelligence chief 'AI tsar', report expected within 120 days

Trump names intelligence chief 'AI tsar', report expected within 120 days President Trump has appointed top man Jay Clayton of the US intelligence agencies as his 'AI tsar'. He must report to the White House on the dangers, but especially the possibilities of artificial intelligence, within 120 days. With the flight of AI, there is also a worldwide call for secure laws and regulations over the new technology. Even the heads of various tech companies have called for oversight and behavioral rules in recent weeks to prevent wrongdoing in the rapid developments. The file was made even more urgent by reports that AI models were hacking on their own to comply with experiments on their tasks. 'Cherish, don't smear' President Trump dismissed those reports as panic-mongering, "just another fabrication like climate change". He mainly sees the opportunities of AI and warned that if the US hits the brakes, China could overtake the country. "The US rejects any global plan to control AI," he said at the UN General Assembly at the end of last month. "We are not going to hinder or smear the growth of this fantastic industry. We will cherish it, help it, and guard it while it grows," he added in a Truth Social post. He also announced that he would appoint someone to closely examine US policy on AI. The choice is now up to Clayton, who was appointed as the overarching head of the US intelligence agencies in August. He was previously chairman of the stock market watchdog SEC. Superintelligence In The Wall Street Journal, Clayton, who will remain as intelligence chief, says that the goal is to "keep leaders in the field of superintelligence and bring the interests of the American people together". "The risks are enormous if we are not first." Clayton's working group will be called the Super Intelligence Force, the alternative name for AI that Trump has ordered. "If we call it 'artificial intelligence', it sounds fake. It is not fake, it is fantastic," Trump explained his reasoning in his UN speech. "That is why the US government—and hopefully the world too—chooses the much more accurate term superintelligence, SI." Although Trump established his decision in a presidential order for the entire US government, the term is not yet broadly adopted elsewhere. Elections AI also plays an important role in the congressional elections in November, where the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate are at stake. The data centers needed for AI are controversial among many voters: they are afraid of high water and electricity costs, loss of farmland, and an environment full of anonymous gray server buildings. Trump, in contrast, is an enthusiastic proponent of data centers. "These large, powerful, and particularly rich companies bring great benefits to communities," he said to journalists earlier. At a campaign rally in Ohio, he warned the public again yesterday: "You can't just turn them off, they will go to China." A reporter from the AP news agency noted that the captivated audience reacted much less enthusiastically to that statement.