Treasury Secretary Bessent Tapped as Frontrunner for Trump's AI Czar
Days after Trump announced plans for an 'AI Force,' reports say Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent leads the shortlist for the AI czar role — though the White House calls it speculation.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emerged as the frontrunner to become President Donald Trump's next AI czar, according to a Cointelegraph report citing Semafor, which spoke with three sources familiar with the matter.
The news comes just days after Trump announced plans for an "AI Force" amid growing concern about the technology's risks. Trump laid out the AI czar plans in a Sept. 19 Truth Social post, though, according to the report, he shared few details about what the role or the force would actually do.
Who else is in the running
Bessent isn't the only name being floated. The report says other candidates include White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor — a former managing partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz — and National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross.
The White House, however, pushed back on the reporting. Spokesperson Kush Desai told Semafor that "any reporting about personnel decisions that have not been officially announced by the administration should be regarded as baseless speculation," per the report.
Why the role is open
Trump previously tapped David Sacks as his AI and crypto czar, but Sacks stepped down earlier this year after reaching his service limit as a special government employee, the report notes. Sacks continues advising the president through the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
For crypto markets, the AI czar pick matters: the role was explicitly an AI and crypto czar under Sacks, and a Treasury Secretary in the seat would put the administration's AI and digital-asset policy under one roof. Cointelegraph also flagged related reporting that BlackRock sees AI's potential to drive crypto demand as underappreciated — a sign of how closely the two sectors are being linked by institutional investors.
The crypto market moves fast — prices and figures in this article reflect conditions at the time of reporting and may have changed.
Written by the BidAsk Newsroom. Based on reporting from the sources below.
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