A White House task force on artificial intelligence will assess the technology's risks and opportunities, while preventing overregulation that stifles innovation, its leader Jay Clayton has told the Wall Street Journal.

Clayton, the US director of national intelligence, is widely reported to be the new AI czar in the administration of US President Donald Trump, though the appointment is yet to be confirmed.

Clayton would become the second person to hold the informal title after venture capitalist David Sacks, who held the role at the start of Trump's second term before stepping down.

The new "Super Intelligence Force" – using Trump's preferred term for artificial intelligence – will have 120 days to report on the risks and opportunities of the technology, the Journal reported on Saturday.

"The president asked that a group be put together that was going to ensure exactly what he said... (that) we stay the leaders in superintelligence, and that the interests of the American people are put first," Clayton said.

"The risk of not being first is high," he added.

"Not being first increases the identified, and unidentified, risks, particularly from our adversaries. Being first will better enable us to address those risks on behalf of the American people."

A longtime Wall Street lawyer, Clayton represented Goldman Sachs during the 2008 financial crisis and Barclays in its purchase of Lehman Brothers' assets.

Trump tapped Clayton to lead federal prosecutors in Manhattan at the start of his second term, and the Senate confirmed him as intelligence chief in July.

He has no background in the tech industry.

The task force's charter states that it will "develop plans for responding to SI-enabled threats to our society, while preventing overregulation and regulatory capture that would stifle innovation and competition," according to the Journal.

It will also "recommend ways to improve the government's response capacity under existing authorities."

Members of the task force include Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.