President Donald Trump has announced that the United States is getting an “AI Force.”
What exactly is an AI Force?
That's where things get complicated.
Trump announced over the weekend that he intends to create a new organization modeled on the Space Force and appoint a new “AI czar” to oversee his administration's approach to artificial intelligence.
There was just one conspicuous problem.
Trump provided almost no information explaining what the organization would actually be, how it would operate, where it would exist inside the federal government or what powers it would possess.
And according to reporting from Axios, the announcement caught some of Trump's own advisers by surprise.
The president had effectively announced a new government “force” before his administration appeared to have settled some of the most basic questions about what that force would actually be.
“Only High I.Q. Individuals Need Apply”
Trump announced the initiative on Truth Social while arguing against efforts to slow the development of increasingly powerful artificial-intelligence systems.
He compared his proposed AI Force to the Space Force established during his first administration.
Trump also promised that a new AI czar would be announced soon, adding:
“Only High I.Q. individuals need apply!”
Beyond that, details were scarce.
There was no announced organizational structure.
No announced budget.
No explanation of how many people would work for it.
No explanation of whether it would be a civilian organization, part of the military or simply a White House policy initiative.
No detailed description of its authority.
Even two days after Trump's announcement, those fundamental questions remained unresolved publicly.
The White House Scrambles to Figure Out What Trump Just Announced
The reaction inside Washington may be more revealing than Trump's original post.
Axios reported Monday that Trump's announcement caught advisers by surprise and triggered what it described as a scramble surrounding the proposed organization and the selection of an AI czar.
Officials and technology executives were already maneuvering around the new position.
Potential candidates reportedly include current and former government officials and prominent figures with Silicon Valley connections.
But before Washington can determine who should run the AI Force, someone might first need to determine what the AI Force actually is.
That's an unusual order of operations for creating a potentially important government organization.
Ordinarily, a government identifies a problem, determines what authority is necessary to address it, develops an organizational structure and then chooses people capable of carrying out that mission.
Here, the president announced the name first.
The details appear to be coming later.
Trump Says AI Fears Are a “Hoax”
The announcement comes at a serious moment in the debate over artificial intelligence.
Technology executives, researchers and political leaders from both parties have raised concerns about increasingly powerful AI systems and the possibility that future models could create cybersecurity, economic and national-security risks.
Some leading figures within the AI industry itself have called for additional safeguards.
Trump has largely rejected calls to significantly slow development.
He has described some warnings about artificial intelligence as a “hoax” and argued that excessive regulation could allow China to surpass the United States.
Trump says his administration will encourage the industry's rapid growth while using the existing criminal and civil justice systems to deal with “bad actors.”
There is a legitimate policy debate underneath all of this.
Artificial intelligence could transform enormous parts of the American economy.
It could also introduce risks that governments around the world are only beginning to understand.
Determining how aggressively the United States should regulate AI while remaining technologically competitive with China is an enormously consequential question.
Which makes the apparent improvisation surrounding Trump's new organization even more remarkable.
America Already Had an AI Czar
There is another wrinkle.
Trump already had an AI czar.
Venture capitalist David Sacks served as Trump's White House AI and cryptocurrency czar before leaving that government role earlier this year.
Other administration officials have subsequently held important AI-policy positions.
Now Trump wants another AI czar.
And another organization.
Trump has described the proposed AI Force as something comparable to Space Force, but the comparison only goes so far.
Space Force is an actual branch of the United States Armed Forces. It has personnel, military installations, a defined command structure, a congressional mandate and an appropriated budget.
The AI Force, at least for now, is a presidential social-media announcement.
Trump Also Wants to Rename Artificial Intelligence
As if the AI Force announcement weren't unusual enough, Trump has also questioned whether “artificial intelligence” should even continue to be called artificial intelligence.
The term dates to the 1950s.
Trump has suggested alternatives including “Superior Intelligence,” “Extreme Intelligence” and “Supreme Intelligence.”
Renaming AI would accomplish nothing to address the difficult questions facing policymakers.
It wouldn't make AI systems safer.
It wouldn't protect American jobs.
It wouldn't prevent cyberattacks.
It wouldn't establish standards for advanced models.
And it wouldn't help the government decide what to do if increasingly autonomous AI systems begin behaving in unexpected ways.
Those are the difficult policy questions.
Changing the name is the easy part.
A Serious Issue Deserves Serious Planning
Artificial intelligence may prove to be one of the most consequential technologies developed in generations.
The United States absolutely needs a coherent national strategy.
It needs people who understand the technology.
It needs cooperation between government, industry and researchers.
It needs policies addressing national security, economic competition, cybersecurity, employment and public safety.
And it needs to determine how to compete with China without simply ignoring legitimate risks.
Perhaps Trump's AI Force will eventually become part of that strategy.
Perhaps his administration will develop a detailed mission, organizational structure and set of responsibilities for it.
But that isn't what Americans were given when the president announced it.
They got a name.
They got a comparison to Space Force.
They got a promise of another czar.
And they got an invitation for people with “High I.Q.” to apply.
Meanwhile, according to reporting about the reaction inside the administration, people around Trump were left scrambling to determine what the president's newly announced AI Force was actually going to be.
For a technology that may reshape the American economy and national security, the country deserves something more substantial than government policy being invented after the announcement.