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President Trump’s next AI czar will be walking into a technological revolution moving at breakneck speed — and a Washington power struggle over the government’s role.
The president announced Sept. 19 that he would appoint a new AI adviser and create an “AI Force,” and the “high IQ” tech wizard will inherit an AI landscape that has changed dramatically since venture capitalist David Sacks became Trump’s first AI and crypto czar in late 2024.
He stepped down in March after reaching the 130-day service limit as a special government employee.
Filling the post comes as AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic call for greater government intervention and while lawmakers push for new rules governing the nation’s frontier AI labs.
Among those reportedly in the mix for the job overseeing policy toward a trillion-dollar industry:
Sriram Krishnan
The senior White House policy advisor on AI was named one of “The Architects of AI” in TIME Magazine’s 2025 Persons of the Year. He is a native of Chennai, India, and a venture capitalist who previously held senior roles at Microsoft, Meta, and XAI.
Krishnan was the architect of the administration’s AI Action Plan, which provided a blueprint to roll back regulation of the market and to promote growth with building data centers.
Trump has previously praised Krishnan, saying at a White House holiday party: “[W]ithout him things, certainly on AI, would not function well,” The Washington Post reported in June.
Krishnan took on a more formal role at the National Economic Council when Sacks vacated the czarship until his own departure in June, according to Axios.
Scott Bessent
The US Treasury Secretary has been widely reported as the frontrunner and has repeatedly stated that AI companies should bear responsibility for what their models do.
He has become increasingly involved in AI policy, including discussions with Chinese officials this week over a potential US-China mechanism for communicating about AI incidents that threaten national security.
“The best way to guarantee safety is that the creators are liable for what they build and generate,” Bessent said in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.
Bessent told Fox News that Reuters’ report claiming he was already asked by Trump to serve in the role was “fake news.”
Sean Cairncross
The National Cyber Director has been a major part of the Trump administration’s AI policymaking since 2025.
He was appointed by Trump as the CEO of the US foreign aid organization Millennium Challenge Corp. from 2019 to 2021 and was elected chief operating officer of the Republican National Committee in 2016.
Cairncross has clashed with Bessent, believing that the Treasury Department has become too involved with AI matters, according to a June 6 report from Axios.
Administration insiders expressed doubt that former Republican party operative was up to the task of regulating frontier AI labs — with one anonymous official previously telling Politico that Cairncross was “in over his head.”
Michael Kratsios
The director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has been one of Trump’s leading technology advisers and has argued against slowing the development of frontier AI.
“The frontier of intelligence is advancing rapidly. That is not a reason to pause its further development or to constrain it with new global governance structures,” Kratsios said in an address at the United Nations on Wednesday.
“Only through an open, cooperative ecosystem built on sovereign infrastructure and domestic capacity can the world realize this technology’s potential. US international efforts seek to build that capacity by sharing our technology and providing the tools for adoption.”
He added: “You cannot govern a technology you do not understand. This body and others like it should focus on sharing best practices to build domestic capacity, not establishing a global regulatory regime.”
Whoever gets the job will face pressure from both the AI industry and lawmakers as Washington struggles to determine how to regulate technology that is advancing faster than the government can write rules for it.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, is a vocal proponent of strict AI regulation and is pushing, along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), for the “Artificial Intelligence Risk Evaluation Act.”
The Show Me State senator said he wants any new AI czar to put American citizens first.
“Somebody who’s got everyday citizens’ best interests at heart,” Hawley told The Post.
“But Congress should do something too. We should pass a bill limiting data centers. We ought to pass legislation that would stop AI chatbots from pushing sexual material to kids. We ought to pass legislation that would give everyday people the right to get into court against these companies. We should not just sit back and spectate.”
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