US President Donald Trump announced that he is creating the so-called “Artificial Intelligence Force“ (AI Force) and that he will soon appoint a special leader – “AI czar“ to be responsible for this area. The statement was made in a post on the social network Truth Social and confirmed by Reuters.
Trump compared the new initiative to the US Space Force, created during his first presidential term. “I am creating an Artificial Intelligence Force, just like I created the Space Force“, the president wrote. He defined AI as a technology with the potential to cause a transformation on a larger scale than the Internet and comparable to a new industrial revolution.
According to him, artificial intelligence could in the future be connected to about 25% of the US gross domestic product. Trump also said that the US currently has a lead over China and the rest of the world and that he intends to maintain it. This is an assessment of the US president, not an official forecast of a government statistical office.
At the moment, the White House has not presented a detailed structure of the future “AI Force“. It is also not clear whether Trump has in mind the creation of a separate type of armed forces, similar to the Space Force, or rather a federal administrative structure that would coordinate policy and control in the field of artificial intelligence. Reuters indicates that the White House has not yet published an additional official clarification.
Trump said that the new structure should both encourage the development of the US artificial intelligence industry and monitor abuses of the technology. According to him, the government should not “stifle“ the sector with excessive regulations, but should use existing legislation against dangerous or illegal applications of AI.
The comparison with the Space Force also has institutional implications. The U.S. Space Force was officially created on December 20, 2019, after Trump signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. It became the sixth independent branch of the U.S. armed forces and the first new military branch in 73 years.
The new statement comes at a time when Washington is viewing artificial intelligence not only as an economic technology but also as a matter of national security. Just days ago, American and Chinese security experts proposed the creation of bilateral safeguards for the risks of using AI in nuclear command systems, military cyber operations and other sensitive areas.