President Donald Trump created a new taskforce to oversee artificial intelligence policy, led by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton. The taskforce, called the "Super Intelligence Force," will coordinate federal government engagement with tech companies, public interest groups, religious organizations and critical infrastructure providers, Trump posted on Sunday.
Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, and Director of the Office of Personnel Management Scott Kupor will serve on the taskforce alongside Clayton. The group reports directly to Trump and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Clayton took office as national intelligence director in August. He previously served as US attorney for the Southern District of New York and has said of AI that "when something's both an opportunity and a threat, you better get your arms around it."
The taskforce announcement follows an executive order Trump signed on 29 September that instructed federal departments and agencies to use the terms "SI" and "Super Intelligence" instead of "artificial intelligence" in official correspondence, websites and reports. Trump said previously that the word artificial made AI sound "fake."
The move comes after executives from OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX and Google signed what Trump described as a "morally binding" pact on AI governance on the same day. Some tech leaders have adopted the new terminology. Elon Musk said on social media Sunday that he will rename his firm's AI platform SpaceXAI as SpaceXSI, writing that "SpaceX is a super intelligence company."
Trump has largely favored industry self-regulation over stronger government oversight. In an interview published 4 October, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said the benefits of AI justify accepting some risks and argued the technology should remain accessible to the public. "The world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency," Altman told Politico's Decoded newsletter.
Some experts have questioned the rebranding logic, arguing that "super intelligence" could cause confusion since it refers to more advanced systems.