AI Race Puts Tech Firms at Center of State Power

The White House gave government officials and AI companies roles in monitoring industry pledges, reporting breaches and assessing AI’s effects on job loss. The Trump administration says it intends to keep the United States ahead in the technology race. President Donald Trump and several AI leaders signed the agreement last month; it asks companies to police AI risks themselves, and Trump has described it as “morally binding.”

Corporate Pledges, Government Oversight

Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said U.S. companies and the Trump administration “need to be wary” of foreign espionage attempts. Clayton leads a new White House AI task force. He told CNBC that AI “amplifies” cybersecurity risks to interconnected U.S. digital infrastructure, including systems tied to public services, national defense and global communications.

“It's why we're focused on hardening those systems” and using “our commitment to continue to lead to stay ahead of those nefarious actors,” Clayton said. He called commercial and state-sponsored espionage “realities” that private companies and government must watch for.

The task force held its inaugural meeting at the White House on Thursday. It established three subcommittees: one for reporting and response, one to assess critical infrastructure and work with the private sector, and one for law enforcement and responsibility. Clayton said the administration intends to stay ahead in the AI race. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have “significant technical capability,” he added.

Clayton and National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross will lead a separate working group to monitor implementation of the White House accord with the AI companies that signed it. Department of Defense Under Secretary Emil Michael will develop a process for leading labs to report breaches or hacks committed by their agents. He will also lead a working group of labs, though the group’s goal wasn't specified in the extracted account.

OPM Director Scott Kupor will oversee work to protect critical infrastructure from AI-enabled harms. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson will lead a committee focused on applying existing laws to AI. The task force also assigned the Department of Labor to track AI’s effects on job loss and the economy.

Espionage Case and Export Controls

The administration’s warnings followed a case involving OpenAI. Federal prosecutors charged Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan with allegedly installing a recording device in an OpenAI executive conference room. Alfozan, an OpenAI employee, hasn't been charged with espionage; the federal charge involves alleged interception of oral communications.

Prosecutors said Alfozan had booked a one-way plane ticket to Saudi Arabia with his wife and another family member before his arrest. Clayton said the incident “shows the lengths that people will go to try and supplant our leadership in this, or at least stay close to us in this emerging technology.” An ex-CIA official, who spoke anonymously to discuss non-public information, told CNBC the case was “probably the tip of the iceberg.”

China said Friday it plans to restrict or ban exports of 40 technologies spanning AI, chips and solar power, as its technology race with countries including the United States intensifies. A Financial Times headline described a draft of export controls on AI technologies and chips, but the extracted page content gave no further details about the proposal.

Regulation, Investment and Labor

At an International AI Summit in Dublin, Irish Commissioner and EU justice chief Michael McGrath said, “We are satisfied for now. We have an appropriate system of regulation in place.” EU tech official Henna Virkkunen said the AI Act leaves Europe “well-equipped” to tackle risks from advanced AI.

Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith said Europe wants rules “a little lighter in weight” and “more supportive of innovation,” while protecting public safety. The EU’s AI Office, he said, would need experienced software, AI and engineering experts, along with appropriate tools and training. Google DeepMind’s former chief executive Demis Hassabis warned that rules written three years earlier “would be out of date today” and might not address current problems. A Google DeepMind spokesperson said Hassabis was emphasizing adaptable governance.

The summit also exposed differences over investment and industrial capacity. Vodafone chief external and corporate affairs officer Joakim Reiter said, “I just don't think that we have the capital to deploy at scale” and build frontier models. Siemens chief technology and strategy officer Peter Koerte said, “They invested 280 billion last year, Europe 20 billion.” He urged the EU to build on industrial data rather than “rebuild what's been built already.”

The largest U.S. technology firms sent no notable chief executives to the summit. OpenAI sent Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar, while Meta sent deputy Kevin Martin; Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn't attend. The task force’s assignment to track AI-related job loss puts employment effects within the government’s oversight work, but the extracted account gave no estimate of potential job losses.