Newsletter

• The U.S. Department of Justice has established a special task force called "Super Intelligence," led by Deputy Attorney General Stanley Woodward and Deputy Deputy Attorney General Stephen Weiss. The task force is responsible for combating the misuse of advanced AI by foreign forces, criminal organizations, and scammers.
• In addition to filing a lawsuit, the working group also hopes that AI will strengthen internal controls and risk reporting to ensure that the model 'operates as expected'.
• This measure adds to the continuously expanding AI initiatives at the federal level, ranging from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's focus on “super intelligence” inspections in 2027 to the new regulatory framework of the banking regulator AI.

The U.S. Department of Justice is establishing a special task force to combat the misuse of advanced artificial intelligence, while Washington is stepping up efforts to build law enforcement capabilities surrounding this technology, which is increasingly being described in ways that resemble science fiction.

The Ministry of Justice announced on Thursday that the "Super Intelligence Task Force" ( Super Intelligence Task Force, referred to as DOJ-SITF) will be led by Deputy Minister of Justice Stanley Woodward and Deputy Deputy Minister of Justice Stephen Weiss.

The established mission of this working group is to ensure that the United States' leading position in the field of "super intelligence" is not undermined by criminals, whether they are unfriendly foreign governments and their agents, transnational criminal organizations, or companies and individuals that use AI to carry out fraud or other crimes.

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The Ministry of Justice cited statements by U.S. President Donald Trump, stating that "the United States is at the forefront of the new intelligent technology revolution."

The Minister of Justice Todd Blanche stated in his declaration: "The development of SI will continue to be driven by American innovators." He added that the working group will cooperate with SI Force Chairperson Jay Clayton to prevent key AI technologies from being "manipulated by criminals, both domestic and foreign."

Blanche indicates that the Department of Justice will continue to 'identify and prosecute those who use SI illegally, including those who maliciously target American taxpayers, critical American infrastructure, or other areas related to national security.'

It is worth noting that this effort is not solely aimed at apprehending criminals. Weiss indicates that the Ministry of Justice also “has the responsibility” to “strengthen regular reporting on SI risks and responses, and to ensure that companies implement robust internal controls to ensure that SI technology operates as expected.” This suggests that the Ministry of Justice hopes that AI developers themselves will also enhance their protections to prevent models from getting out of control.

The term "superintelligence" usually refers to a hypothetical AI whose overall capabilities surpass those of humans; the government's adoption of this term marks a further upgrade in the way officials discuss this technology. The former Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, has been consistently associated with the Trump administration's broader promotion of superintelligence, and the SEC has also recently included "superintelligence" among its key areas of focus for inspection in 2027.

The working group has joined the continuously expanding AI risk response efforts at the federal level. Trump signed an executive order to establish a mechanism to counter the AI regulations of various states. Earlier this week, the US banking regulator OCC released its first AI framework, as banks are dealing with the issue of proxy systems unauthorizedly accessing customer accounts.

The Ministry of Justice has not provided a timeline, nor has it detailed how this working group will coordinate with other agencies; it only stated that its work will "promote innovation and prevent the abuse of this technology."

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