Meet Donald Trump’s AI Advisory Team

He took over the role last week following the unexpected resignation of Chris Fall, who had spent several weeks urging Anthropic to implement enhanced safeguards to mitigate jailbreak threats to its advanced Fable 5 model.
CAISI personnel participated in discussions with Anthropic’s technical teams for weeks, as both parties worked together to establish new safeguards that were considered robust enough for the Fable 5 to be reactivated, as reported by WIRED.
National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross
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Sean Cairncross has adopted a more assertive stance regarding Chinese AI laboratories.
Cairncross plays a significant role in potential efforts to regulate Chinese AI and is authorized at the White House to devise strategies to address the national security risks posed by AI. He was instrumental in forming President Donald Trump’s June 2 executive order, which established a framework to evaluate the most potent AI models.
A former political campaign attorney who was last associated with the Republican National Committee, Cairncross lacks background in technology or AI.
However, both current and former staff recognize his efforts to confront the significant national security challenges presented by AI, and he empowers his team to work independently without micromanaging in a way that a software engineer might.
Specifically, Cairncross and his chief of staff, Lara Smith, have been focused on preventing Chinese labs from training their models using top U.S. models through a method known as distillation.
In response to a request for a statement, White House spokesperson Elizabeth Huston indicated that the administration’s discussions on Chinese AI are primarily aimed at strengthening U.S. AI capabilities.
“The United States leads the world in AI innovation, and President Trump intends to maintain that position. The Trump Administration is intensifying efforts on innovation to expand the gap between America and the rest of the globe,” Huston asserts.
Former AI Czar David Sacks
Photo-Illustration: Darrell Jackson; Getty Images
Tech investor David Sacks continues to be a key advisor on AI to Trump, maintaining direct communication with the president even after stepping down from his position as AI czar in March.
