White House Appoints 'AI Czar' Whose Primary Qualification Is Owning a Very Nice Tote Bag From Davos

Officially Absurd | Washington, D.C.

The White House moved swiftly this week to address the growing national anxiety around artificial intelligence by doing what Washington does best: creating a title.

The administration announced the appointment of a Senior Coordinator for Artificial Intelligence Governance Engagement and Stakeholder Ecosystem Dialogue — a position that, according to the executive order establishing it, carries the full weight and prestige of the federal government, a shared printer on the fourth floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and absolutely nothing else.

The new AI Czar — a term the official has asked journalists not to use, though he has not yet filed the form to make that request official — will be responsible for "coordinating the national conversation around artificial intelligence governance frameworks, facilitating cross-sector stakeholder engagement, and ensuring that the United States remains a meaningful participant in the global dialogue ecosystem around transformative technology."

There is no budget. There is no staff. There is no defined authority. There is, however, a very impressive title on a very heavy business card, which sources say was the subject of three separate inter-agency meetings.

Meet the Man With the Job That Doesn't Quite Exist

The official, a 44-year-old former consultant whose previous roles include Senior Director of Digital Futures at a think tank, Deputy Head of Emerging Technologies Dialogue at a different think tank, and a brief stint as a Fellow at a third think tank that was funded by two of the companies he is now nominally overseeing, was introduced at a Rose Garden event attended by approximately fourteen people, six of whom were photographers.

"I am honored, humbled, and genuinely excited to convene the conversations that will shape the conversations that will eventually inform the policies that will govern the technologies that are already everywhere," he said, to warm applause from the photographers.

Asked what specific authority he holds to regulate, investigate, or meaningfully influence the behavior of the artificial intelligence industry, the official smiled in the particular way of someone who has been asked this question before and prepared a non-answer so smooth it almost sounds like an answer.

"My role is facilitative rather than regulatory," he said. "I'm a convener. A bridge-builder. A dialogue architect."

A reporter followed up by asking what a dialogue architect does.

"I attend things," he said, slightly more honestly than intended.

The Schedule: A Study in Perpetual Motion

And attend things he will. Officially Absurd obtained a copy of the official's calendar for his first 90 days in the role, which reads less like a government work plan and more like the itinerary of a very energetic LinkedIn influencer.

Week one opens with a keynote at the National AI Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., where he will deliver remarks titled "Toward a Governance-Ready Ecosystem: A Framework for Thinking About Frameworks." Week two features a panel at the Global Technology Futures Symposium in San Francisco, where he will appear alongside three venture capitalists and a philosopher. Week three involves a summit in Austin, a roundtable in New York, and what the calendar describes only as "a dinner (strategic)."

By week six, he is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote at the Artificial Intelligence Innovation Expo in Las Vegas — a three-day event held at a casino conference center, sponsored by four of the largest AI companies in the country, and attended primarily by the people he is supposed to be overseeing.

"We think it's important that he's in the room," said a White House spokesperson, when asked whether there was any tension in having the government's AI policy coordinator keynoting an industry-funded industry event. "Being in the room is the job."

By the end of his first 90 days, the official will have attended seventeen panels, four summits, two forums, one expo, and a workshop described in the calendar as "immersive." He will have flown approximately 23,000 miles. He will have accumulated an estimated 340,000 frequent flyer miles, which, unlike his policy authority, are entirely his to keep.

What, If Anything, Will Come of This

Experts in technology governance — a field that has itself expanded dramatically in proportion to the number of conferences about technology governance — have offered cautiously optimistic assessments of the new role.

"There's genuine value in having a senior voice in the room," said one academic who has attended many of the same conferences the new czar will be attending. "The question is whether being in the room is sufficient, or whether at some point someone needs to actually do something."

A second expert, reached by phone from a conference in Geneva, was more direct: "This is a visibility role dressed up as a governance role. It's a press release wearing a lanyard."

The AI industry, for its part, reacted warmly. Several major companies issued statements welcoming the appointment, praising the administration's "commitment to thoughtful engagement" and expressing eagerness to "partner with government on the important conversations ahead." None of them mentioned regulation. None of them were asked about it.

The Small Matter of the Expiration Date

There is, buried in paragraph nine of the executive order establishing the position, a detail that has received relatively little attention in the coverage of the appointment.

The order expires in 90 days.

At that point, unless renewed by a subsequent executive order — which would itself require inter-agency review, a public comment period, and the completion of several forms — the Senior Coordinator for Artificial Intelligence Governance Engagement and Stakeholder Ecosystem Dialogue will cease to exist as a legal entity, his title will revert to nothing, and his shared printer access will be revoked.

This means the position will expire approximately two days after he returns from Las Vegas.

When asked about this at the Rose Garden event, the official paused for just a moment before recovering his composure entirely.

"The conversation," he said, "doesn't end when the role ends. The conversation is ongoing. The conversation is, in many ways, the point."

He then excused himself. He had a panel to catch.