Trump plans to create an AI Force modeled on the Space Force

Just as some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names are asking to tap the brakes on artificial intelligence, Donald Trump wants to slam the accelerator through the floor.

Trump announced on Truth Social that he plans to create a new “AI Force,” modeled after the Space Force, and will soon appoint an “AI czar.” He also dismissed recent warnings about AI safety and human alignment as a political “hoax,” while floating a poll to rebrand artificial intelligence into something flashier, like “Superior Intelligence,” “Extreme Intelligence,” or “Supreme Intelligence.”

Space Force, but make it algorithms

Details on what the AI Force actually is remain practically nonexistent.

Trump provided no timeline, organizational structure, budget, or legal scope. It is entirely unclear whether the unit would operate within the military or exist as a civilian regulatory body. According to Trump, the force is meant to watch over the industry and hunt down bad actors using existing criminal and civil statutes.

As for the AI czar post, venture capitalist David Sacks vacated the combined AI and crypto czar role back in March to co-chair the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Trump has yet to name a replacement, though he noted on Truth Social that “Only High I.Q. individuals need apply!”

Safety calls meet full-throttle growth

Trump’s laissez-faire stance sharply clashes with an escalating safety debate within the industry. Just days earlier, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay calling to “pace the frontier,” proposing independent evaluators embedded inside major labs to keep capabilities from outrunning safety. OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk both voiced support for a slower pace, while an Anthropic researcher publicly resigned over existential risks.

Yet Trump made it clear he views slowing down as surrender, predicting AI could eventually account for 25% of U.S. GDP. He found vocal support from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who took a phone call from Trump onstage at the All-In Summit and agreed that the AI backlash was a hoax, insisting the industry will not let a slowdown happen.

Meanwhile, the public remains skeptical. A June Pew Research Center survey found that 52% of Americans are more concerned than excited about AI in daily life, with 71% expecting the technology to eliminate jobs over the next two decades.

Why it matters

Trump’s announcement sends an unmistakable signal to tech giants and investors: Washington will not slow you down. By framing international competition and rapid economic expansion as the top priorities, this administration is betting that existing legal frameworks are enough to police bad actors after the fact.

We think this hands-off posture is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it gives U.S. developers maximum freedom to build and deploy infrastructure without the bureaucratic friction that European rivals face. On the other hand, brushing aside internal industry warnings about model risks seems remarkably shortsighted. When the very builders behind the frontier models are asking for guardrails and third-party scrutiny, treating those safety concerns as mere political theater leaves critical vulnerabilities completely unaddressed.