{"id":916407,"date":"2026-10-05T00:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T00:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/916407\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T00:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T00:42:11","slug":"trump-names-intelligence-chief-jay-clayton-as-new-white-house-ai-czar-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/916407\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump names intelligence chief Jay Clayton as new White House AI czar | Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump on Sunday named Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence<\/a>, to also serve as the new White House AI czar.<\/p>\n

Clayton, who leads the US\u2019s 18 intelligence agencies<\/a>, previously served as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan and led the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n

During his Senate confirmation hearing<\/a>, Clayton said AI was a \u201cgamechanger\u201d but it also posed \u201ca threat\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen something\u2019s both an opportunity and a threat, you better get your arms around it,\u201d Clayton told lawmakers when asked about AI.<\/p>\n

CBS News was the first<\/a> to report that Clayton would be appointed White House AI czar.<\/p>\n

In a social media post on Sunday, Trump announced that Clayton would lead what the US president called \u201cthe Super Intelligence Force (SIF)\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s post also said the SIF would \u201ccoordinate the federal government\u2019s engagement with consumers, public interest groups, religious organizations, critical infrastructure providers, and super intelligence companies\u201d.<\/p>\n

Among those reacting on Sunday to Trump\u2019s invoking the term \u201csuper intelligence\u201d was SpaceX chief Elon Musk<\/a>. Musk said on his social media platform X that SI was \u201cbetter\u201d than AI \u2013 and that he was renaming<\/a> his aerospace company\u2019s AI unit from SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI.<\/p>\n

Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat who is vice-chair of the Senate select committee on intelligence, cautiously welcomed the appointment of Clayton, while noting that \u201cthe administration has resisted<\/a> meaningful safeguards without offering a serious alternative for addressing the national security risks posed by increasingly powerful AI systems\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to working with Director Clayton on ensuring the United States stays ahead of China and other adversaries, strengthening the security and resilience of our most advanced AI systems, and establishing rigorous testing and safeguards so that increasingly powerful systems remain secure, reliable, and under human control,\u201d Warner added.<\/p>\n

In September, Trump announced<\/a> he was creating an \u201cAI Force\u201d <\/a>and a czar to oversee the technology\u2019s growth and monitor for \u201cbad\u201d development. The announcement came after tech industry leaders warned that AI was developing too rapidly<\/a> to control and that it could harm humans.<\/p>\n

The president has largely brushed aside concerns about AI development <\/a>and the construction of datacenters, which power the technology.<\/p>\n

Trump has insisted continued development is paramount to defeating China in the global AI race.<\/p>\n

But to address concerns, the president created an advisory committee in addition to the czar \u2013 whom he previously promised would be led by a \u201chigh IQ\u201d individual. Trump also recently met with AI industry leaders to discuss concerns.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Trump and six executives signed an AI accord<\/a> at the White House, promising to create internal and external monitors to ensure the technology is used as intended and any safety issues are addressed.<\/p>\n

Trump had initially created the AI and cryptocurrency czar position when he returned to the White House in January 2025.<\/p>\n

David Sacks, the venture capitalist and tech businessman, served as the administration\u2019s AI and cryptocurrency czar until March 2026, when he reached his employment limit under his designation as a \u201cspecial government employee\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sacks still co-chairs the President\u2019s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.<\/p>\n

Trump previously floated Clayton\u2019s name as a potential AI czar, telling Axios<\/a> in September that Clayton was \u201ca good man\u201d and the prospect of appointing him was \u201ca good idea\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump on Sunday named Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, to also serve as the new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-916407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}