Trump rules out Bessent as AI czar

President Donald Trump said Friday that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will not become his artificial intelligence czar, a role Trump has rebranded as "Super Intelligence" or "SI" czar, after multiple media reports this week floated Bessent's name for the post. In a Truth Social post, Trump said Bessent "doesn't want to" take the job and praised his work at Treasury, writing, "Why would I ever make such a change? Just more Fake News!", according to The Hill.

Bessent has become one of the administration's most prominent voices on AI policy, arguing that supporting U.S. competitiveness in the industry does not conflict with maintaining safety guardrails, a position that diverges from Trump's more dismissive stance on regulation. Following Anthropic's release of its Mythos model, Bessent made that case publicly. He has also played a role in U.S.-China AI diplomacy, speaking ahead of Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping about a proposed notification system between Washington and Beijing to address risks from the technology. In July, Bessent took a harder line against China after the U.S. found Chinese AI companies may have stolen proprietary information from American models, threatening sanctions.

Venture capitalist David Sacks previously held the AI and crypto czar role but left the White House after his special government employee term ended, though he remains influential and co-chairs the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Trump has not indicated who he is seriously considering for the new position, having said when announcing it that "Only High I.Q. individuals need to apply!"

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Hill’s reporting. Read the full story at The Hill →