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US President Donald Trump has announced the formation of a new taskforce dedicated to artificial intelligence, which he says will be called the "Super Intelligence Force" and will operate under the leadership of Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton. The president revealed the plan in a post on Sunday, describing the body as a central coordinating hub for the federal government's approach to the rapidly evolving technology.
According to Trump, the taskforce will work to guarantee that the United States maintains its dominant position in the development of artificial intelligence. Beyond that goal, it will also manage how the government communicates and engages with a broad range of stakeholders, including consumers, public interest groups, religious organizations, critical infrastructure providers, and the companies building advanced AI systems.
The announcement follows an executive order signed by the president on 29 September that formally renames artificial intelligence as "Super Intelligence" across the federal government. Trump had previously argued that the word "artificial" made the technology sound "fake," prompting the unusual rebranding of a field that has become a central pillar of global economic and strategic competition.
Trump also said last week that he intended to establish a board to oversee AI safety, shortly after a number of leading technology executives signed what he characterized as a "morally binding" pact. That agreement, signed on 29 September, included the signatures of leaders from major firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX, and Google, according to the source article.
The newly created taskforce will report directly to the president and to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, placing it close to the center of executive power. Its membership will extend beyond Clayton, drawing in several senior officials from across the government. 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 are all set to take part.
Clayton, who will lead the effort, assumed the role of US national intelligence director in August. His path to the position was not straightforward: Trump's original nominee for the post, Bill Pulte, was rejected by lawmakers, opening the way for Clayton to take charge of the intelligence community. Clayton has spoken about AI in the past, offering a pragmatic view of its dual nature. "When something's both an opportunity and a threat, you better get your arms around it," he has said, suggesting an awareness of both the promise and the peril the technology presents.
His background includes serving as US attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he oversaw several high-profile cases. Among them was the drug trafficking prosecution of former Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. That legal and national security experience may inform how he approaches the oversight of a technology that touches on everything from economic competitiveness to defense and civil liberties.
The creation of the taskforce comes amid mounting pressure from influential figures in the technology industry, including executives at OpenAI and Anthropic, who have been calling for tighter regulation of artificial intelligence. In an interview published on 4 October, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said the benefits of AI justify accepting some of its risks, and he argued that 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 technology-focused newsletter Decoded.
Trump, however, has consistently dismissed appeals for stronger oversight and has largely left it to AI companies to police themselves. His preference for a light-touch approach has been a defining feature of his administration's posture toward the sector, and the new taskforce appears designed to coordinate rather than to impose strict new rules. Critics of that stance argue that self-regulation may prove inadequate as systems grow more capable and more deeply embedded in daily life.
The rebranding of AI as "Super Intelligence" has itself drawn scrutiny. Some experts have questioned the logic behind the change, warning that the term could sow confusion because "super intelligence" is already widely understood to refer to far more advanced systems than those currently in use. The executive order instructed government departments and agencies to adopt the terms "SI" and "Super Intelligence" and to stop acknowledging the term artificial intelligence in official correspondence, websites, reports, and other forms of communication.
Some prominent technology leaders have already begun to use the new name. Multi-billionaire Elon Musk said on social media on Sunday that he would rename his firm's AI platform from SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI, writing that "SpaceX is a super intelligence company." Musk's latest alignment with the administration follows a turbulent period in their relationship, after a public spat with Trump brought an end to his earlier tenure heading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
More recently, Musk has been brought back into government work as part of a project examining the future of warfare, signaling a renewed working relationship with the president. The episode highlights how closely the fortunes of the AI industry and the political leadership of the United States have become intertwined. With the new taskforce now in place, Clayton and his colleagues will face the challenge of balancing America's competitive ambitions against growing calls for safety, accountability, and public trust in a technology that is reshaping economies and societies worldwide.
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