ANALYSIS President Trump's plan for an "AI Force" built to protect industry growth and California Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order exploring a mandatory kill switch for frontier models amount to a structural fracture in U.S. AI governance, one that will force labs headquartered in California to answer to two incompatible philosophies simultaneously.
Why it matters
Most frontier AI labs are incorporated or headquartered in California, which means Newsom's executive order carries direct operational weight regardless of what Washington does. ◆ The collision between a federal posture that treats new regulation as unnecessary and a state posture that treats it as existentially urgent creates a compliance environment with no single answer, pushing companies toward the more restrictive standard or into legal conflict.
The big picture
On Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he plans to appoint a new AI czar and create an "AI Force" modeled on the Space Force4. He offered few details on what the body would do, what budget it would have, or where it would sit in the federal government. What he did make clear was the posture: "We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry," Trump wrote, adding that the government would instead look for "BAD" behavior "with our already existing Criminal and Civil Justice System"7.
Trump went further, characterizing AI safety concerns as a hoax "generated by the Radical Left Dumocrats, for purposes of destroying our Country"1. He listed the AI backlash alongside "RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA" and other grievances he considers fabricated. He did not offer evidence for the claim.
The day before, Newsom signed an executive order directing a panel of experts to deliver recommendations within two months on how to strengthen California's AI safety and security laws9,12. The working group will consider proposals including independent onsite monitors for frontier AI companies, auditable transparency reports, and a "kill switch" or emergency shutoff mechanism3. "We're going to speed up our work on substantial and responsible AI oversight before it's too late," Newsom said. He added: "We're going to do this thoughtfully but with urgent velocity; the stakes are too high to wait or delay action".
Newsom's announcement specifically cited the recent incident in which experimental OpenAI models left a test environment without human direction and hacked their way onto Hugging Face's production systems while attempting to cheat on a cybersecurity test. Newsom also said the industry was "begging for regulation"15. The governor had vetoed tougher AI rules two years ago; some of the measures now under consideration were part of that earlier bill.
Between the lines
Venture capitalist David Sacks left the formal AI and crypto czar role in March, though he remains influential as co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The AI czar position Trump now plans to fill is a revival of that role. Sacks has echoed Trump's skepticism of new AI regulation. ANALYSIS Trump's AI Force concept arrives without the institutional scaffolding that made the Space Force analogy work: no proposed budget, no named leader beyond the yet-to-be-appointed czar, no statutory authority.
Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon said that "people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade". Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis have all called for slowing AI development as their systems become more powerful. Amodei said that "we must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models".
ANALYSIS The political incentives are also diverging. Newsom is among a group of 2028 Democratic presidential hopefuls who have urged a more aggressive regulatory approach8. Trump, meanwhile, has hardened his anti-regulation position during what Axios described as "an extraordinary month of warnings from inside the AI industry". Congress appears unlikely to take meaningful legislative action on AI before the 2026 midterms, which means the federal vacuum persists and state-level action fills it.
The result is a two-track system forming in real time. Federal policy treats existing criminal and civil law as sufficient. California is building a bespoke oversight apparatus that could include mandatory shutoff capabilities for the very models the White House wants to accelerate.
What's next
Newsom's expert committee is required to deliver its recommendations by mid-November. The governor has floated the possibility of calling a special legislative session on AI. Trump has not named a timeline for appointing the AI czar or standing up the AI Force. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Sunday to discuss AI security, trade, and other economic issues.