The recent appointment of an “AI and Crypto Czar” by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has sparked significant discussion in Washington. This personnel move signals a significant shift in U.S. AI strategy, moving beyond traditional defensive measures like chip export controls to a more proactive approach focused on bolstering domestic research and development and accelerating its leadership in the AI domain.
I attended the Trusted Tech Summit in Washington in early December and felt the momentum behind this shift firsthand. Experts at the summit generally agreed that relying on a purely defensive strategy will not sustain America’s long-term advantages. Against this backdrop, an “proactive strategy” is emerging, one that involves collaborating with international allies to jointly develop AI systems that can assist in research, effectively achieving “AI-driven AI development.”
The concept of an “AI scientist” is no longer mere conjecture. OpenAI’s newly announced “o3” model stands as a key milestone. This next-generation AI, trained under using “deliberative alignment,” can not only plan strategies and refine its reasoning before producing outputs but can also self-evaluate and adjust in real time according to policy and safety standards. This enables robust and reliable performance in highly complex tasks such as mathematics, physics, and programming.
In traditional R&D pipelines, assembling a team capable of tackling complex challenges can require years of training and experience. Now, as AI becomes part of the research process, it can simultaneously experiment with multiple research avenues and rapidly iterate results. Projects that once took years to complete may now conclude in mere months or even weeks. This acceleration not only shortens innovation cycles but also upgrades the entire supply chain, opening an unprecedented fast track for cutting-edge technology.
Nevertheless, balancing rapid growth and security remains a challenge for both AI and blockchain technologies—a challenge that falls squarely under the new “Czar’s” purview. In choosing David Sacks, Trump stated that he will “work to establish a legal framework to provide the clarity the crypto industry has long sought, allowing the industry to thrive in the US.” Put simply, the U.S. will establish mechanisms to continuously offer emerging technologies a clear development path, guiding government agencies, businesses, and smaller innovators to move forward together as part of an essential collective effort.
The “proactive strategy” adopted by the U.S. and the unveiling of o3 is ushering in a tech revolution. As humans and AI co-evolve, and AI becomes a powerful engine for promoting R&D itself, we need a flexible “steering wheel”—trustworthy governance mechanisms jointly calibrated by all stakeholders. This will ensure that technological development progresses steadily and smoothly, rather than lurching forward and then abruptly halting.