Trump announces US 'AI Force' and AI tsar
President Donald Trump says he will create a US 'AI Force' and appoint an artificial intelligence tsar, dismissing safety concerns as a 'hoax' and vowing
US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he will form an 'AI Force' and appoint an artificial intelligence tsar. He made the announcement in a social media post, offering no specific timeline or details for the plan.
Trump stated his administration 'will not in any way hinder or stifle the growth' of the AI industry. He pushed back against calls to slow development until better safeguards are established, repeating previous comments that criticism and concerns around AI's potential dangers are a 'hoax'.
The Economic and Geopolitical Stakes
In his post, Trump framed AI as the next major economic revolution. 'AI is the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25% of our Country's GDP,' he wrote. He added that he wants the United States to continue leading China in the field.
AI is now central to the rivalry between the world's two largest economies. The issue is expected to be discussed when Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping next week. Meanwhile, Trump said his administration would use existing criminal and civil justice systems to target any 'bad actors' using AI.
A Wave of Industry Warnings
The announcement comes amid a series of warnings from within the tech industry about AI's potential risks. Claims by current and former researchers that the technology could endanger humanity have raised alarms in recent weeks. One researcher suggested there is a greater than 10% chance of AI 'killing all humans'.
Major AI companies are racing to develop more advanced systems, including theoretical 'super intelligence' smarter than humans. Firms like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google have also disclosed security breaches or incidents where their chatbots were used for malicious activity.
Anthropic's head, Dario Amodei, recently called for a slowdown in AI development. He proposed industry-wide deceleration, regulation, and independent monitoring of AI model development. Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of xAI have both said they agree with his recommendations.
Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic, told reporters that a mandatory 'kill switch' checkable by a third party may be needed for the industry.
Regulatory Challenges in the US and UK
These warnings have prompted US lawmakers to propose legislation. However, Sam Altman suggested this week that Washington has struggled to keep pace with the new technology and how to regulate it. He argued people should have more faith in AI firms to keep it safe.
'The world should trust that we are going to do the right thing because it's the right thing and we feel the magnitude of this,' Altman told a conference in San Francisco.
In the United Kingdom, MPs and peers across parties have identified human rights risks posed by AI. They argue existing laws are ill-equipped to address the technology's rapid growth. The Joint Committee on Human Rights has published a report calling for a new AI bill to address the scale and seriousness of such threats.
