Trump wants a White House AI czar

Donald Trump is considering naming an AI czar, the incoming president’s transition team told Axios.

If appointed, this person would be the White House official tasked with coordinating the federal government’s use of the emerging technology and its policies toward it. And while the role will not go to Elon Musk, the billionaire tech CEO who has been named to run a government efficiency commission for Trump, he will have input as to who gets the job.

The Trump administration has promised a deregulatory attitude toward artificial intelligence, including undoing President Joe Biden’s 2023 executive order on AI.

That order not only tasked the federal departments and agencies with evaluating how to regulate the technology given their statutory authority but also how to use it to further their own goals. Under Biden, each agency was tasked with naming a chief AI officer. If Trump is to keep those positions, the White House AI czar would likely coordinate with these officials across the executive branch.