President Trump proposed creating a new "A.I. Force" on Saturday, following the model of the Space Force he established in his first term. He announced the plan alongside a promise to appoint a new White House A.I. "Czar," framing both as efforts to boost the industry by staying out of its way. "We will cherish it, help it, and watch over it," Trump wrote on social media, dismissing regulatory concerns as a "media hoax cycle" driven by "Radical Left Democrats" like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

The proposal arrives amid intense debate in Washington over regulating frontier A.I. models and competition with Chinese-developed open-source alternatives. Trump did not clarify if the A.I. Force would be a military command or civilian agency, and White House officials did not respond to clarification requests. Venture capitalist David Sacks, Trump's former A.I. czar, praised the move, arguing a development pause would hand the technological frontier to China.

Critics note existing institutions already address A.I. security. United States Cyber Command is experimenting with models like Anthropic's Mythos for vulnerability detection, while the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency handles critical infrastructure protection—though its staff has been reduced under Trump. Former President Barack Obama publicly criticized the approach Friday at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., warning that effective government regulation is essential for health and safety.