David Sacks Exits White House AI & Crypto Czar Role

David Sacks, the prominent venture capitalist and tech billionaire, who had served as Silicon Valley’s primary liaison within the White House and a key architect of its ambitious AI policy initiatives, announced on Thursday his departure from his role as President Donald Trump’s Special Advisor on AI and Crypto. Sacks confirmed he is no longer a special government employee, a status that allowed him to work simultaneously in the private sector and for the government, albeit for a maximum of 130 days. This revelation, made during an interview with Bloomberg Television concerning the White House’s proposed AI framework, addressed lingering questions about his tenure, as he had exceeded the one-year mark in the position. Sacks stated he had "used up that time" and would now dedicate his efforts to co-chairing the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

In his new capacity, Sacks will transition to a special advisory council tasked with studying issues and formulating recommendations for the Trump administration. His move follows recent White House announcements of several new appointments to PCAST earlier this week, which included other influential tech executives such as Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreessen, Jensen Huang, and Sergey Brin. Michael Kratsios, head of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, is also slated to serve as a co-chair of the council.

Speaking to interviewer Ed Ludlow, Sacks articulated the expanded scope of his new role. "I think moving forward as co-chair of PCAST, I can now make recommendations on not just AI, but on an expanded range of technology topics," he stated. He further clarified that his responsibilities would be purely advisory, focusing on providing counsel directly to the president and the White House executive offices, rather than coordinating with federal agencies. "It’s intended to be advice to the president and to the White House, to the executive offices of the president. So, yeah, we’re going to study issues, make recommendations. And that’s the main goal of that, is advice," Sacks explained. The White House had not yet responded to a request for comment regarding these developments.

During his tenure as AI and crypto czar, Sacks, who notably hosted a significant Silicon Valley fundraiser for Trump in 2024, enjoyed direct access to the Oval Office and wielded considerable influence in shaping the administration's technology policy. However, his assertive approach to policymaking inadvertently led the Trump administration into several politically contentious battles. His push for a blanket ban on AI state laws, pursued both through Congress and subsequently via executive order, reportedly alienated Republican governors and MAGA populists, thereby rendering several other potential policy achievements politically unviable.

Michael Toscano, executive director for the conservative Institute for Family Studies, offered a scathing critique of Sacks' performance to The Verge, asserting, "He failed to get preemption. He pressed the White House into a culture war against its own voters. He kept it from getting simple wins like child safety. He has been a political disaster." Toscano concluded, "He is perhaps singularly responsible for the White House losing its populist bona fides."

Adding to the controversies, Sacks committed an act last week that, by Trumpworld standards, was arguably more detrimental: he publicly criticized the president. During an episode of his podcast, "All In," Sacks suggested that President Trump "needed to find an 'off-ramp'" from his ongoing conflict with Iran.

This transition aligns with a discernible pattern within Trump's second administration, where controversial or embarrassing appointees are frequently demoted or reassigned rather than outright dismissed. For instance, last year, Mike Waltz was removed from his position as National Security Advisor following his involvement in "Signal-gate" and subsequently reassigned as U.N. Ambassador. More recently, Kristi Noem, the former Secretary of Homeland Security who oversaw ICE’s contentious occupation of Minneapolis—an event that led to the deaths of two protesters—was reassigned as a special envoy to an initiative dubbed the “Shield of the Americas.”