Clayton has described AI as both an opportunity and a threat that government needs to "get your arms around." Trump also praised Anthropic's Dario Amodei as "great," said Zuckerberg "had a view that was right down the middle," and discussed the Xi meeting with tech leaders.
The czar role has been vacant since David Sacks stepped down as AI and Crypto Czar on March 26 to become co-chair of the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. Trump announced the AI Force, modeled on the Space Force, on Sept. 19 and told the UN General Assembly three days later that US government documents will refer to AI as "Super Intelligence." He ruled out Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for the czar job on Sept. 25, saying Bessent "doesn't want to" and is doing "such a great job" at Treasury, and dismissed the reports as "fake news." Trump now calls the post the Super Intelligence czar.