The announcements come as AI faces mounting concerns from populations across the United States.
United States President Donald Trump has announced he’s creating an “AI Force” and will appoint a new “AI czar” to oversee development of the nation’s artificial intelligence industry.
In a lengthy social media post on Saturday, Trump said he was doing so with a goal of protecting — and advancing — the development of AI, which he described as “the next Industrial Revolution” that would be key to the country’s economic growth. He did not provide details about this group or when he would appoint the new adviser.
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“We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry”, Trump said in a Truth Social post. “Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!”
The president likened the AI Force to his creation of the Space Force, the newest branch of the US military created during his first term in office.
Trump already had one “AI czar”, venture capitalist David Sacks. He resigned earlier this year and became an external adviser to the president.
The announcements by Trump come as AI faces mounting concerns from US tech executives and residents alike.
Earlier this week, leaders of the world’s largest AI companies publicly called for a slowdown of the burgeoning technology’s development following warnings about how rapid advances could threaten to outpace the ability to develop it safely.
After a safety researcher at Anthropic, a leading US-based AI company, warned there was a greater than ۱۰ percent chance the tech “could kill all humans” within the next decade, Trump called it a “hoax.”
“The robots will not be taking over,” Trump said on Monday during a phone call to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during the All-In Summit. “The AI will not be taking over the rest of the world.”
Sacks, who now chairs Trump’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, had also been sceptical of regulating the technology.
In a recent interview with CBS News, Sacks suggested fears AI could harm people are overblown.
“I think this is becoming a panic,” he said.
The growth of the number of data centres has faced increasing pushback in communities across the US over their use of natural resources and role in soaring energy costs. It is an issue that has brought lawmakers from both major political parties in the US together over concerns raised by these communities in the run-up to November’s US midterm elections. On Saturday, however, Trump also blasted attacks on AI data centres, calling the facilities “prestigious”.
“Higher Salaries, Lower Taxes, and Safer Streets, was the result,” Trump said of the facilities, echoing remarks last month in which he said communities that didn’t want them would “end up being backwards and poor”.
Al Jazeera’s Eva McKend noted on Saturday that “Trump’s stance on AI is increasingly out of step with public sentiment,” including his own voters.
Residents in some of the most conservative parts of the US are aggressively pushing back against AI data centres despite supporting Trump in the ۲۰۲۴ election, she reported. That pushback was reflected earlier this week when the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill, in a ۴۱۷ to ۳ vote, that would minimize the impact of AI data centre’s electricity use on US residents’ utility bills.
But despite the growing calls for AI to be reined in, Trump’s Saturday announcement reflects his anti-regulatory, pro-growth stance towards a technology he says he believes is key to competing against China.
The issue is expected to be front and centre during Trump’s summit next week in Washington, DC, with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
