Donald Trump has named tech investor David Sacks to be “A.I. & Crypto Czar” as a newly created role in his administration next year, to help guide its approaches toward artificial intelligence.
In a post to Truth Social, the president-elect said Sacks will also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology, or PCAST, an independent committee with staff from outside the federal government who are tasked with making policy recommendations to the White House.
Sacks helped launch PayPal in the late 90s and later served as its chief operating officer. More recently he co-founded Craft Ventures, with an investment focus on business-to-business developers and software-as-a-service startups.
Craft has backed healthcare companies such as ZocDoc and Neuralink; Sacks is a friend of Elon Musk, and Craft has also invested in his SpaceX and Boring Company ventures. He also co-hosts the All-In podcast.
“David has the knowledge, business experience, intelligence, and pragmatism to MAKE AMERICA GREAT in these two critical technologies,” Trump wrote in his post. Sacks supported the Trump campaign, hosting a major fundraiser at his San Francisco home, and delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention in July.
In the past two weeks, Trump has selected Johns Hopkins surgeon Martin Makary to serve as commissioner of the FDA and Stanford University economist Jay Bhattacharya to head up the National Institutes of Health. Prior to that, he named Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as his pick for Health and Human Services secretary. Those three positions will require confirmation by the Senate. It is unclear whether Sacks will undergo the same process, as some czar roles have been voted on and some have not.