DOJ Stands Up Super Intelligence Task Force to Hunt AI Bad Actors

Washington just built itself a new AI cop. The Justice Department announced Thursday it's creating the Super Intelligence Task Force, or DOJ-SITF, to police the misuse of advanced artificial intelligence. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward and Associate Deputy Attorney General Stephen Weiss will run it.

The mandate is broad. The task force is meant to stop foreign governments and their proxies, transnational criminal organizations, and companies or individuals using AI for fraud or other crimes from undercutting American leadership in what the department calls super intelligence. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the DOJ will keep identifying and prosecuting people whose use of the tech violates the law, naming malicious targeting of American taxpayers, critical infrastructure and national security as red lines.

The effort isn't only about hunting criminals. Weiss said the department has a responsibility to harden reporting on super intelligence risk and make sure companies run vigorous internal controls so the technology behaves as intended. Translation: the DOJ wants AI developers themselves to shore up safeguards before their models go sideways. Blanche said the task force will work with SI Force Chair Jay Clayton to keep critical AI technologies out of the wrong hands, at home or abroad.

The language is a step up in ambition. Super intelligence usually describes a hypothetical AI that outclasses humans across the board, and the government's adoption of the phrase signals how officials now talk about the tech. Clayton, a former SEC chair, has been linked to a wider Trump administration push on the subject, and the SEC recently folded super intelligence into its 2027 examination priorities.

The DOJ-SITF lands in the middle of a federal sprint on AI risk. President Donald Trump signed an executive order setting up a fight with states over AI regulation, and earlier this week the banking regulator OCC issued its first AI framework as banks wrestle with rogue agents reaching into customer accounts.

What's still missing: the details. The department didn't give a timeline or explain how the task force will coordinate with other agencies, saying only that its work will promote innovation and prevent misuse of the technology.