President Trump has announced plans for new 'AI Force' and 'AI Czar' amid growing AI safety concerns — new unit will 'cherish' AI and not 'stifle' it, Trump clarifies, while dismissing safety warnings as hoaxes

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced plans to form an “AI force” and appoint an “AI Czar” amid growing concerns about the risks of the rapidly advancing technology. In a lengthy September 19 post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump compared the initiative to the creation of the U.S. Space Force — which he formed during his first term in office — clarifying that the new unit will not be used to restrict tech companies. He emphasized that his administration “will not in any way hinder or stifle the growth” of the AI industry, but will instead “cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows.” The president provided no further details on the initiative’s implementation, which reportedly took the White House and the tech industry by surprise.

The announcement comes amid growing pressure on U.S. lawmakers to implement AI safeguards to address the risks the technology poses. Calls for guardrails intensified last week after an ex-OpenAI researcher resigned from Anthropic, citing concerns that AI companies weren't taking AI safety seriously enough. He warned that “people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” accusing the companies of gambling with human lives. A safety researcher at the company also warned that there was a more than 10% chance AI would kill us all by 2030.

Meanwhile, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, backed by executives at OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Microsoft, published an essay urging Washington to pace development over fears that AI agents could spiral out of human control, warning of a potential AI-powered botnet swarm that could take over the entire internet. President Trump doesn't in the least share these sentiments and has repeatedly downplayed such calls, including the recent warnings, as hoaxes, claiming that a “sick conspiracy” to undermine AI was underway.

“AI is the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25% of our Country's GDP,” he said on social media, while also expressing his administration’s desire to maintain the U.S.’s lead over China in AI. “We will not in any way hinder or stifle the growth of this incredible industry,” he wrote. “We are leading China, and the rest of the World, and I intend to keep it that way!” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is taking a similar stance, dismissing warnings and calls for new regulations. “We should go as fast as we can, irrespective of anyone else,” Huang said, adding that there was a “0% chance” AI will destroy the world by 2030.

Trump did not provide further details on how the AI force will work or who the AI Czar will be. However, several reports point to Venture capitalist David Sacks, who served as Trump’s AI and cryptocurrency czar until March, as a potential candidate. The AI regulation conversation is expected to be an important part of several high-level gatherings in the coming weeks, including a UN event on AI hosted by the Trump administration. This is followed by a state house dinner at the White House, as part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, which OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, and Google’s Sundar Pichai are expected to attend.

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