US Justice Department moves all its AI cases under a new super intelligence unit
The unit is to coordinate cases involving misuse of AI by foreign states, gangs and fraudsters, and absorbs the department's earlier AI team.
The US Justice Department has set up a Super Intelligence Task Force to coordinate all criminal and civil cases involving AI. Attorney General Todd Blanche created the unit in mid-October through an internal memo, and the public announcement followed last Thursday, ExecutiveGov reports. The unit targets foreign states, criminal gangs and individuals or companies that use AI for fraud, and is also to set enforcement priorities.
The new body takes over the AI team the department set up in January, which according to The Next Web challenged state AI laws in federal court, among other things. It is led by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward and Associate Deputy Attorney General Stephen Weiss. It will also serve as the point of contact for the White House's Super Intelligence Force, chaired by intelligence director Jay Clayton.
Prosecutors' offices and agencies must notify the unit, at its request, when an AI investigation starts and before charges are brought, except in urgent cases. The name follows an executive order by President Trump in late September directing federal agencies to use the term super intelligence. The department did not say how many staff or how much budget the unit will have.