Trump AI Force is being formed. President Donald Trump announced the plan on Saturday.
He also said he will soon name an artificial intelligence czar. Additionally, he promised not to hinder the industry’s growth.
Why the Trump AI Force matters
Trump posted the plan on Truth Social. Specifically, he modeled the body on the Space Force. However, he has not named a budget or structure yet. He also has not named a candidate for the czar job.
Trump spent September arguing that AI backlash is manufactured. For example, he called fears of an AI takeover a hoax last week. That statement came during a live call with Nvidia’s chief, Jensen Huang.
Saturday’s post carried that argument further. He filed the campaign against AI alongside other items. These are what he calls hoaxes.
“Over the years, there have been many Hoaxes,” he said. He listed several examples. These included Russia, Ukraine, and global warming. He also cited the two impeachment hoaxes. He added “Men in Women’s Sports” and “Transgender for Everyone” to the list. Finally, he named “the decimation, or destruction, of AI.”
According to Trump, the effort started as an attack on data centers. It then fizzled once communities saw higher salaries and lower taxes. He said opponents moved on to AI itself. He compared this to swapping “global warming” for “climate change.”
Trump had already warned towns rejecting data centers. He said they would end up backwards and poor. He now told readers AI could reach 25% of US GDP. He also said the country leads China in building it.
AI Force gets a Space Force template
Trump pledged the government would cherish and help the industry. He said it would not slow it down. At the same time, he said officials would watch for wrongdoing. Additionally, he said existing criminal and civil law is already enough.
The AI Force is his vehicle for that job. Trump pointed to Space Force as the template. He called it a tremendous success from his first term. He said the czar announcement would follow soon. He set one bar for the job.
“Only High I.Q. individuals need apply!” he wrote.
The czar role has sat empty since March. David Sacks left the White House AI and crypto post then. Sacks still advises Trump as co-chair of the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Lab researchers put odds on the risk Trump calls a hoax
Trump’s post named Democrats as the source of pressure on AI. Nevertheless, the loudest recent warnings came from safety staff. Specifically, they came from inside the labs building the technology.
Marcus Williams is on OpenAI’s Safety Oversight team. He put the odds of human extinction at 70% within three years. This assumes no regulation or coordinated slowdown.
Bilal Chughtai quit Google DeepMind’s AGI safety team. He said the technology could kill everyone. An Anthropic researcher also published a similar warning in early September.
Trump gave no date for the czar announcement. Whom he picks will show how much weight the White House gives. Specifically, it will show whether he listens to researchers asking for caution.
