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President-elect Donald Trump is considering naming an "AI czar" to shape federal policy for the new technology, Axios reports.
Although the role is not yet confirmed, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-leaders of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), are expected to help choose who gets it.
Musk is expected to be intimately involved in setting the agenda for the position. The appointee would likely help coordinate public and private resources to guide AI investments. They would also work with DOGE to use AI to make the government more efficient and combat fraud.
The AI czar may partner with federal chief AI officers, which major agencies were required to name as part of President Biden's AI Executive Order. Though Trump vowed to repeal the executive order during his campaign, it appears it may remain.
Curtailing the rise of AI in China has also been a major focus for the Biden Administration, which would likely continue under Trump. In October, Biden finalized rules for restricting investment in Chinese AI companies that could threaten US national security, Reuters reports.
The many Silicon Valley leaders who supported Trump and have poured billions into AI tech will likely be glad to hear of continued government interest in the technology. Musk's AI company, xAI, announced a $6 billion funding round in May to power the Grok chatbot that lives on X.
Musk has been a vocal advocate of not restricting ("censoring") the output of chatbots, and he could push legislators in that direction. Grok is among the only AI image generators that allowed its users to create images of Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris during the election. X is now suing the state of California over a new law that prevents the creation and spread of misleading political deepfakes leading up to an election, CBS News reports.
Musk could also have Trump's ear regarding self-driving cars, another form of AI, amid Tesla's robotaxi push. After vowing to "'stop [autonomous cars] from operating on American roads" on the campaign trail, the incoming administration is now reportedly looking at loosening federal regulations to promote adoption.
Continued federal focus on AI is also expected to benefit the energy industry to power resource-gobbling data centers. The types of energy could vary. Trump repeated "drill, baby, drill" throughout his capaign, refering to US domestic oil and gas production, including fracking. But AI has also renewed interest in nuclear power, prompting Microsoft to revive the dormant Three Mile Island facility. Google also inked a nuclear power deal last month.