Trump's Super Intelligence Force: 120 Days, and the Risk Is Not Being First
The US government now has a federal AI task force, and it isn't allowed to call it AI. On Sunday morning President Trump announced the Super Intelligence Force on Truth Social, tasked with "coordinating the effort of the Federal Government to ensure that America continues to lead the World in Super Intelligence." It follows an executive order that rebrands AI as "super intelligence" for official US use.
The lineup, per the Wall Street Journal via TechCrunch: national intelligence director Jay Clayton chairs it, which makes Clayton the de facto AI czar. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael and OPM Director Scott Kupor are vice chairs. The force reportedly has 120 days to produce a report on risks and opportunities. Its charter says it will "develop plans for responding to SI-enabled threats to our society, while preventing overregulation and regulatory capture that would stifle innovation and competition." Clayton told the WSJ that one of the biggest risks is "not being first."
Context matters here. Earlier this week the biggest AI CEOs, including Dario Amodei, signed a "Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities" at the White House. It's legally non-binding (Trump called it "morally binding"), and the document reportedly misspelled the United States. Weeks before that, the administration was calling AI safety concerns a partisan hoax.
For people building agents, the composition matters more than the name. The chair of the FTC, the agency that polices AI companies on consumer protection and competition, is a vice chair. Emil Michael, also a vice chair, has been publicly attacking Anthropic. A task force with an explicit "prevent overregulation" mandate and 120 days on the clock will set the federal tone on agent liability and procurement before most companies have written their own policies.
Link: techcrunch.com/2026/10/04/trump-unveils-his-new-super-intelligence-force/
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The lineup, per the Wall Street Journal via TechCrunch: national intelligence director Jay Clayton chairs it, which makes Clayton the de facto AI czar. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael and OPM Director Scott Kupor are vice chairs. The force reportedly has 120 days to produce a report on risks and opportunities. Its charter says it will "develop plans for responding to SI-enabled threats to our society, while preventing overregulation and regulatory capture that would stifle innovation and competition." Clayton told the WSJ that one of the biggest risks is "not being first."
Context matters here. Earlier this week the biggest AI CEOs, including Dario Amodei, signed a "Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities" at the White House. It's legally non-binding (Trump called it "morally binding"), and the document reportedly misspelled the United States. Weeks before that, the administration was calling AI safety concerns a partisan hoax.
For people building agents, the composition matters more than the name. The chair of the FTC, the agency that polices AI companies on consumer protection and competition, is a vice chair. Emil Michael, also a vice chair, has been publicly attacking Anthropic. A task force with an explicit "prevent overregulation" mandate and 120 days on the clock will set the federal tone on agent liability and procurement before most companies have written their own policies.
Link: techcrunch.com/2026/10/04/trump-unveils-his-new-super-intelligence-force/
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