Pentagon CTO Says US Will Set Out the Laws Covering AI Labs Within Weeks

Michael, who is vice chair of the government's Super Intelligence Task Force, told a Wall Street Journal technology conference in Napa, California, that the group would set out the regulatory picture "in the next week or two", Reuters reported. He gave no further details.

The timing gives the announcement weight. It came a day after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, which puts more pressure on the administration's light-touch approach to AI. Michael presented the planned document as a way to build trust, describing a framework meant to give Americans confidence that AI companies will behave responsibly. He did not describe it as new regulation. Without such a framework, he warned, "535 legislators" might write regulation "that could kill the industry", a reference to the combined membership of the House and Senate.

President Donald Trump created the task force in early October. He announced it on Truth Social, saying it grew out of a White House gathering on superintelligence he had hosted the week before. According to reports at the time, it is led by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and reports to Trump and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Its members include Federal Trade Commission chairman Andrew Ferguson and Office of Personnel Management director Scott Kupor alongside Michael. Its brief covers the government's dealings with AI companies, superintelligence developers, consumers and religious organisations.

Michael did not say whether the document would cover state laws, or whether it would bind federal agencies or only describe the rules that already exist. It will be the task force's first major public output since it was formed.