Trump picks David Sacks as the White House’s AI and crypto czar

David Sacks was named Trump’s AI and crypto czar on Thursday.

President-elect Donald Trump has named David Sacks as his White House artificial intelligence and crypto czar.

“David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas. He will safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday night.

The entrepreneur served as chief operating officer for Elon Musk and Peter Thiel’s PayPal and co-founded venture fund Craft Ventures in 2017. His investments include SpaceX, Palantir, Uber, and Airbnb. He hosts the influential business and tech “All-In” podcast with Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, and David Friedberg.

Sacks has been a vocal Trump supporter. In June, he hosted a San Francisco fundraiser, with tickets for $50,000 per person — and some tiers cost as much as $500,000. That same month, he hosted Trump on the podcast, and Sacks published 23 paragraphs on X explaining why he was casting his vote for Trump. The essay highlighted issues like the economy, the border, NATO, the war in Ukraine, and the jailing of political opponents.

Sacks has taken a fickle approach to politics: He donated to Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, and Ron DeSantis. He criticized Trump on an “All-In” episode, saying he was responsible for the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

The appointment is another instance of the second Trump administration stacking its cabinet with the Silicon Valley and Wall Street leaders who supported his campaign — and who could take a lighter touch on tech regulation. Other key appointments include Elon Musk, Jared Isaacman, and Scott Bessent.

It also signals Trump’s push for cryptocurrencies, a campaign platform that has yielded other crypto-friendly picks for the coming administration, including Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sacks’ responsibilities will include creating a legal framework for crypto in the US and leading a presidential council of advisors on science and technology. According to the White House website, the council is an independent advisory committee made of people from industry, academia, and non-profit organizations with a range of perspectives and expertise. The Biden administration does not have a similar cryptocurrency and AI position.

Trump, once critical of crypto, has embraced alternative currencies during his campaign — even promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet.” On Wednesday night, bitcoin surged above $100,000, a milestone boosted by Trump’s election win and his nomination of Atkins.

In 2016, “The Diversity Myth,” a controversial book Sacks and Thiel wrote during their time at Stanford, saw renewed attention. The book included arguments against taking date rape seriously, such as women calling date rape “belated regret.” Both entrepreneurs apologized for the remarks in the book since then. Sacks said that “it does not represent who I am or what I believe today.”