Pentagon Technology Chief Escalates AI Governance Push With Export Control Warning and Superintelligence Task Force Launch

Emil Michael, the Pentagon's chief technology officer, outlined an increasingly assertive stance on artificial intelligence governance in an extended interview with The Information, signaling that the U.S. government will use export controls to enforce compliance from AI companies and establishing new mechanisms to safeguard national security against foreign AI capabilities. Michael, who serves as Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, detailed the department's ongoing dispute with Anthropic over the use of Claude AI in military operations, revealed the formation of a government-wide superintelligence task force, and warned that foreign-based AI models pose escalating threats to American defense and critical infrastructure.