According to a report by the 'Politician' news website on September 26, U.S. President Trump said on Friday that he would not appoint Scott Bennet as the new head of artificial intelligence affairs – this effectively cooled down the rumors that the Treasury Secretary was about to become the top person in charge of artificial intelligence in the Trump administration.
"Scott Baio will not be the head of 'Super Intelligence' (SI) department," Trump tweeted on Truth Social this Friday. He used his preferred terminology for this technology to refer to the job he was referring to in his tweet. "First, he doesn't want to do it. Second, he has done an outstanding job at the Treasury Department, and I hope he stays there! Why would I make a change like that?"
Trump published a long-form statement on Truth Social over the weekend announcing plans to create an "Artificial Intelligence Force," and said he would appoint a new chief of artificial intelligence affairs to lead the organization (the previous position held by technology investor David Sacks, who resigned at the beginning of this year). However, Trump provided few concrete details about the plan at the time, leaving both the tech industry and members of Congress unsure what exactly the proposal entailed.
Four representatives from the tech industry revealed earlier this week that Bessen’s name has been frequently mentioned, making him a strong contender for the position. These discussions led Trump to dismiss the rumors on Friday as “yet another fake news!”
White House and the US Treasury Department's spokespersons did not immediately respond to the request for comment.
Bessenert is likely to continue playing an important role in the development and implementation of artificial intelligence policies by the Trump administration. This summer, the White House negotiated with leading artificial intelligence companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI regarding the cybersecurity risks posed by their new artificial intelligence models. Bessenert played a key role in these negotiations; among the measures taken was the implementation of export controls on Anthropic’s models. Additionally, he proposed on Sunday to establish a new artificial intelligence security “alert mechanism,” under which he will be responsible for communicating with China about emerging threats.
A government official who has worked on artificial intelligence policies said that Besent was one of the few senior officials in the Trump administration who had a deep understanding of artificial intelligence technology.
