Trump Aides Researched Whether AI Czar Could Profit
Trump Aides Researched Whether AI Czar Could Profit
The News
White House officials privately researched whether David Sacks, the administration's former AI and crypto czar, could personally profit from blocking certain AI regulations, according to a lengthy Wall Street Journal report published Wednesday and summarized by Mediaite.
The report lands amid a broader push against federal AI rules. The Independent reports that Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia chief Jensen Huang approached President Trump to block new AI regulation, with Huang arguing existing laws are adequate and Musk proposing that rival companies audit each other's models.
Trump has said a "strong and smart" president is the only AI oversight the country needs.
Timeline
Sacks steps down as the administration's AI and crypto czar and joins the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Trump posts on Truth Social that a strong and smart president is the only AI guardrail the country needs. HuffPost reports the same week that AI researchers say the claim misstates how AI and federal oversight actually work.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump officials "privately researched" whether Sacks could personally profit from blocking regulation.
Semafor reports on the administration's pro-AI meme campaign, which casts effective altruists — people focused on reducing harm from the technology — as the enemy. Fortune publishes an argument that Trump is right that a White House-run AI agency cannot work, but that the answer is independent standard-setting.
Reactions
Princeton professor Arvind Narayanan told HuffPost that AI's economic impact depends on a decades-long integration process, not a winner-take-all race between countries.
University of Washington professor Emily M. Bender said the U.S.-China race framing has been used to slow data-center and privacy regulation, and that there is no solid definition of artificial general intelligence.
Writing in Fortune, Stavros Gadinis argues AI labs already run internal safety systems and what they lack is independent standard-setting and auditing — modeled on the accounting industry's FASB, a body the federal government recognizes without controlling.
The Daily Mail is polling its readers on whether they believe Trump is the only guardrail AI needs.
What's Next
The White House has not commented on the Journal's reporting, and it is not clear what action, if any, officials took after researching Sacks.
The unresolved fight is over where AI oversight should sit: with the executive branch, a new federal agency, an industry-run body, or some combination — and whether any of those would be trusted by foreign governments and markets.
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Where the Split Runs
Musk's proposal would have rival labs audit each other's models. Critics of that approach ask whether an industry-led auditing system creates real accountability or simply lets the labs set their own passing grade.
Huang's position is narrower: that the laws already on the books are sufficient and no new federal AI statute is needed.
Poll
Who should set the rules for AI?
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