The US Department of Justice says its Super Intelligence Task Force is now up and running. The task force was ordered by a presidential memorandum of October 13 and is led by Jay Clayton alongside associate attorney general Stanley Woodward and associate deputy attorney general Stephen Weiss, with Pentagon chief technology officer Emil Michael as vice chair. Its stated responsibility is to ensure US leadership in artificial intelligence, which the administration now officially terms super intelligence, remains uncompromised by foreign abuse, including by state and state backed groups, criminal enterprises, individuals and corporate entities.
The memorandum gives the task force a wide enforcement remit: organising the department’s criminal and civil lawsuits involving AI, recommending enforcement priorities on public safety and AI misuse, developing prosecution guidance for unlawful AI conduct, deconflicting investigations across departments and US attorneys’ offices, and feeding into legislative proposals intended to prevent burdensome regulation. Senior officials cited AI attacks on individuals and attempts to disrupt critical infrastructure among their chief concerns.
“The creation of the DOJ-SITF marks an important moment for the Department to help advance SI technologies and, at the same time, protect American innovation,” Weiss said in the announcement, adding that the department would use law enforcement tools to deter improper use, harden reporting on risk and response, and ensure companies exercise vigorous internal controls. Speaking at a Wall Street Journal technology conference this week, Michael said the team would release details about its view of the AI regulatory landscape later this month.
That November material is the next verifiable step. The announcement itself does not specify what the memorandum’s instruction to take affirmative measures means in practice, and the task force’s dual mandate, promoting the technology while policing it, will be judged on the enforcement priorities and prosecution guidance it actually publishes rather than on its founding language.