Trump rules out Treasury Secretary Bessent as AI czar

By Splitfeed EditorialLast updated Sep 26, 2026, 19:00 UTC

On September 22, 2026, multiple outlets reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had emerged as the leading candidate for a new White House AI czar role that the Trump administration was planning to create. The White House described those reports as speculation. Three days later, on September 25, Trump publicly ruled out Bessent for the position, confirming he would stay at the Treasury Department. The AI czar role itself remains under development, and the search for a nominee is still open. Some reporting has connected the role to a broader initiative referred to as the AI Force, though the structure and authority of that plan have not been fully detailed publicly.

The episode matters less for who was ruled out than for what it confirms: the Trump administration is actively building a formal AI governance role at the White House level. An AI czar position would centralize policy coordination over one of the most contested technology areas in the federal government, covering everything from procurement and national security applications to regulatory posture toward the private sector. Who ultimately fills that role will carry real consequence for how the administration balances industry interests against oversight. The speed with which Bessent's name surfaced and was then withdrawn also illustrates how much uncertainty surrounds the process.

None of the Pro-AI or Middle Ground camps have published reactions to this specific story. The Pro-AI camp would typically welcome the creation of a dedicated White House AI role as a signal of serious government investment in maintaining American competitiveness in the technology. The Middle Ground camp would likely focus on the importance of choosing someone with genuine technical and policy depth rather than a political loyalist. On the Anti-AI side, David Sirota, posting as @davidsirota.com, did not address the czar appointment directly but raised a related concern, arguing that AI safety rules were on the verge of being enacted before a twenty-five million dollar contribution from OpenAI's president to Trump's super PAC preceded the disappearance of those rules. That framing reflects a broader skepticism in the Anti-AI camp that the new role will serve industry interests over public accountability.

The clearest thing to watch is who Trump nominates and what mandate the role is given. The scope of the AI Force plan and whether any legislative or executive order language accompanies the appointment would go a long way toward settling the argument over whether the czar position represents genuine governance or a symbolic gesture toward an industry that has become a significant political donor.