Who is the artificial intelligence czar of the Trump administration?

Recently, the news of the appointment of “David Sachs”, the former chief operating officer of PayPal, as the czar of artificial intelligence in the administration of Donald Trump has caused a lot of noise.

“David Sachs” is one of Elon Musk’s old friends and colleagues; He is known as a venture capitalist and his appointment came soon after Elon Musk took the throne as the co-founder of the Department of Government Productivity (DOGE).

According to Bloomberg’s report, according to Trump’s decision, David Sachs will become a public servant like Elon Musk; This means that he can work for the government up to 130 days a year without having to sell or publicly declare his assets. According to Donald Trump’s announcement, Sachs will also chair the President’s Council of Science and Technology Advisors, an independent advisory committee.

David Sacks; A staunch ally of Donald Trump

For most of 2024, one of President-elect Donald Trump’s staunchest allies in Silicon Valley was David Sachs, an entrepreneur, investor and co-host of the popular All-In podcast, Time reported.

In his podcast and social networks, Sacks has always discussed that Trump’s pro-Trump stances will create innovation and growth in American industry and technology. In June, Sachs hosted a fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco, which included a $300,000 admission per person.

Now, Sachs has been rewarded with a position inside the White House: “the brand new role of artificial intelligence czar.” It is unclear how much power this role actually has. It appears that this will be a part-time role, and Sachs will remain at Kraft’s VC fund.

Artificial intelligence activists believe that in a government that is closely related to private companies, it is necessary to determine the leadership for the artificial intelligence industry in the government, and it can shape the overall view of the government in facing this industry.

What is the relationship between Sachs and Trump?

Sachs has long been close to the center of Silicon Valley’s power structure. He has been a member of the “PayPal mafia” and was the company’s chief operating officer for several years, and is close to Elon Musk, who has also taken on a new role in the Trump administration.

While many Silicon Valley leaders espoused pro-Democrat views, especially during the Obama years, Sachs became increasingly popular for his conservative stances, particularly on the Russia-Ukraine war and the fight against censorship on tech platforms.

He supported Trump this year:

• including during a speech at the Republican National Convention in July where he warned Republicans about a “world on fire.”
• Sachs lobbied Trump to select J.D. Vance as his running mate at a lavish fundraiser.
• Sachs also hosted Trump on All-In and complained that it was too hard to do business in the Biden administration.

Sax’s view on artificial intelligence

Sacks himself is a player in the AI ​​ecosystem: “He launched an AI-powered chat app this year called Glue. “He has often advocated for a more open ecosystem that would enable AI companies to grow, arguing that more of what’s on the Internet should be fairly accessible for AI education.”

Artificial intelligence activists believe that the Trump administration’s focus for artificial intelligence will be on startups and venture capital.

Sacks has championed the integration of AI technology into warfare and national security tools; On an episode of All-In in April, he said he hoped Silicon Valley companies would become more involved in the U.S. defense effort. Sacks is also strongly opposed to AI models that introduce any kind of censorship.