Trump administration sets out charter for 'Super Intelligence Force'

The Trump administration has produced a charter for its new 'Super Intelligence Force,' a White House task force on artificial intelligence, POLITICO reported. Three people familiar with discussions about the task force confirmed the document's authenticity; they were granted anonymity to share details that are not yet public. The Wall Street Journal first reported the details of the charter, according to POLITICO.

Trump announced last weekend that he had tapped Jay Clayton, Director of National Intelligence, to lead the group, The Hill reported. Clayton will be joined by vice chairs Emil Michael, Andrew Ferguson and Scott Kupor, according to The Hill. The Hill described Michael as the Pentagon's chief technology officer, while POLITICO described him as an under secretary of defense; both outlets identified Ferguson as Federal Trade Commission chair and Kupor as director of the Office of Personnel Management. POLITICO reported Clayton leads the task force in his new role as the administration's AI czar, an informal title for its top AI policy official.

Under the charter, the task force will identify 'measures to improve the preparedness and response capability of both the government and the private sector to threats to the homeland and the American people,' POLITICO reported. It will also produce a report on the risks of AI, focusing on 'potential threats to civil liberties,' cybersecurity, standards for advanced models and the impacts of possible overregulation, according to POLITICO.

The task force will stand for 120 days, but its work can be extended, or its functions transferred to another agency, at the direction of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, per the charter, POLITICO reported. Members include administration officials at the National Security Agency and the Health and Human Services Department, and Vice President JD Vance and Wiles will be closely involved, according to POLITICO. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and venture capitalist David Sacks, who served as the administration's AI czar until March, will advise the group on national security and technology respectively, POLITICO reported.

POLITICO reported that Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill were caught off guard by Trump's announcement, with four tech-sector representatives saying the industry was not widely informed before his social media post. The Hill reported the group is tasked with exploring the benefits and risks of the technology and ensuring America's lead in the development race. POLITICO reported its work will span financial services, energy infrastructure, transportation, agriculture and emergency services, and that it will work with the Pentagon, the Justice Department, the Homeland Security Department and the Federal Trade Commission on its recommendations.

POLITICO reported the charter calls out biosecurity and threats to the water supply as two risk areas. It reported OpenAI has backed a slate of bills aimed at preventing AI models from exacerbating the threat of biological weapons, and that Anthropic disclosed several incidents in which scientists in foreign countries used its models to research dangerous pathogens. The administration also rolled out a program in August to protect vulnerable U.S. water facilities from cybersecurity threats, following a series of cyberattacks on local water systems, according to POLITICO.