# Inside Donald Trump's AI Brain Trust: The Key Power Brokers Shaping US Technology Policy

> A detailed look at the officials and advisers scattered across Washington agencies who are shaping the Trump administration's artificial intelligence and China policy.

**Type:** article · **Category:** Technology · **Published:** 2026-07-27 · **Source:** TrendKia
**Canonical:** https://trendkia.com/en/technology/inside-donald-trumps-ai-brain-trust-the-key-power-brokers-shaping-us-technology-policy-10883 · **Language:** English
**Tags:** Donald Trump, Artificial Intelligence, Howard Lutnick, White House, Tech Policy, US China Relations, Scott Bessent

A group of officials scattered across various departments and agencies in Washington is currently steering United States artificial intelligence policy. This cohort harbors differing perspectives on the optimal strategy to maintain America's lead against China. A senior White House official characterized the internal dynamic, noting that the debate involves ten distinct sides rather than merely two. Given the relative lack of interagency coordination within the administration, policies will likely be determined by individuals wielding the most influence over the president. To map out the forces currently at play, here is a breakdown of the primary power brokers driving the AI regulatory race.

## Howard Lutnick
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has increasingly emerged as a central figure within the intra-administration split over artificial intelligence, largely because his department oversees export controls through the Bureau of Industry and Security. Sources familiar with the matter indicate that Lutnick has contemplated ways to incentivize top United States laboratories to create proprietary open-weight models as a counterbalance to China, and he has engaged with leaders across various AI labs. Lutnick publicly downplayed the capabilities of Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 model, writing on X that his team found it performed worse than leading domestic frontier models in key benchmark tests. Lutnick appears to straddle a middle ground regarding regulation, having imposed export controls on Anthropic to bring them to compliance while remaining relatively freewheeling compared to other White House figures.

## Arvind Raman
Arvind Raman serves as Lutnick’s top deputy and the acting chief at the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, housed within the Commerce Department as the primary point of contact between the industry and the government. He assumed the role following the abrupt resignation of his predecessor, Chris Fall, who departed after weeks of strenuous efforts to persuade Anthropic to implement stronger safeguards preventing jailbreaks on its powerful Fable 5 model. Staff from the Center for AI Standards and Innovation spent weeks in technical meetings with Anthropic teams to hammer out safeguards deemed sufficient for Fable 5 to resume operations.

## Sean Cairncross
National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross has adopted a considerably more hardline posture toward Chinese artificial intelligence laboratories. Cairncross wields significant influence over potential regulatory measures targeting Chinese AI and is empowered within the White House to formulate policies mitigating national security risks associated with the technology. He helped formulate President Donald Trump’s June 2 executive order establishing a framework to evaluate the most powerful AI models. Although he previously worked as a political campaign lawyer at the Republican National Committee and lacks traditional technology or artificial intelligence experience, current and former staff credit him with confronting complex national security challenges without micromanaging his team. Specifically, Cairncross and his chief of staff, Lara Smith, have focused on preventing Chinese laboratories from training their proprietary systems using data distilled from top United States models. Responding to a request for comment, White House spokesperson Elizabeth Huston stated that administration deliberations regarding Chinese AI center on bolstering domestic innovation, noting that the United States leads the world in AI innovation and that President Trump intends to maintain that position by doubling down on technological advancement.

## David Sacks
Tech investor David Sacks remains one of the most influential external advisers on artificial intelligence for Trump, maintaining a direct line to the president despite stepping down from his role as AI czar in March. Sacks has consistently advocated for a hands-off regulatory approach to artificial intelligence, successfully intervening at the eleventh hour to water down specific regulatory provisions within the June 2 executive order. He has maintained a similarly laissez-faire stance toward Chinese open-weight models, utilizing his X account with 1.6 million followers to shape administration policy from the outside, recently posting that the panic surrounding competing models is unwarranted as long as domestic labs continue releasing advanced technology.

## Susie Wiles
As President Trump’s top political aide, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is responsible for vetting and scrutinizing policy proposals originating from all factions before they reach the Oval Office. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has taken departmental positions directly to Wiles, mirroring the actions of Lutnick and Cairncross. Consistent with broader administration dynamics, Wiles' decisions invariably serve as the final word.

## Scott Bessent
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, overseeing United States-China trade relations, has adopted perhaps the most aggressive stance toward Chinese artificial intelligence efforts and the practice of distilling domestic models. In a recent social media post, Bessent characterized model distillation as intellectual property theft and threatened Chinese laboratories with potential sanctions or inclusion on the government Entity List. After playing a minimal role in restricting Anthropic, Bessent amplified his involvement in artificial intelligence policy ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s White House visit and the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Bessent has communicated to Wiles and other officials that Western allies must accelerate their own open-weight model development to prevent losing the technological race to China. While Bessent collaborates directly with Wiles, his deputy Luke Pettit has executed policy directives at the staff level.

## Luke Pettit
Luke Pettit serves as the Treasury Department's primary point of contact for artificial intelligence under Bessent. Pettit, a former senior policy adviser in the United States Senate, works alongside the Treasury chief information officer and former Department of Government Efficiency member Sam Corcos. Treasury officials have focused extensively on the systemic risks posed by rogue artificial intelligence systems, noting that an errant model capable of closing trading positions or accessing sensitive banking information at institutions like Goldman Sachs could precipitate broader economic instability.

## What this means for you
**In the United States:** These regulatory shifts and trade policies will directly impact domestic tech startups, export controls, and software development.

**Globally:** The artificial intelligence race between the US and China influences international technology standards, supply chains, and market competition.

## Questions & Answers

### 1. Who is shaping artificial intelligence policy in the Trump administration?
Key officials and advisers including Howard Lutnick, Sean Cairncross, Scott Bessent, and David Sacks are driving AI policy across various Washington agencies.

### 2. What is Howard Lutnick's role in the administration?
As Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick oversees export controls through the Bureau of Industry and Security and influences domestic open-weight model strategies.

### 3. What is Sean Cairncross's primary focus regarding Chinese AI?
National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross focuses on curbing Chinese laboratories from training their models using data distilled from top United States systems.

### 4. How does Scott Bessent view model distillation?
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has repudiated model distillation as intellectual property theft and threatened Chinese labs with trade restrictions.

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