David Sacks is no longer the White House AI and Crypto Czar
The influential VC's 130-day special government employee status expired, shifting his power from direct policy to recommendations.
David Sacks, the venture capitalist and key Silicon Valley advocate within the Trump White House, has left his role as Special Advisor on AI and Crypto. His position was a Special Government Employee (SGE) role, legally capped at 130 days of service, a limit he revealed he had "used up" after more than a year in the job. Instead of direct policy execution, Sacks will now co-chair the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), a council recently expanded with tech luminaries like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia's Jensen Huang, and investor Marc Andreessen.
Sacks' tenure as 'czar' was marked by aggressive policy pushes, including an attempt to implement a federal preemption of state AI laws, which alienated Republican governors and populist factions. Critics, like the Institute for Family Studies' Michael Toscano, labeled him a "political disaster" for steering the administration into unpopular culture wars. His departure follows a pattern in Trump's second term of reassigning controversial figures; it was likely accelerated after Sacks publicly criticized the president's Iran policy on his podcast, 'All In.' His new PCAST role focuses on studying broad tech issues and providing advice, not coordinating with federal agencies, signaling a reduction in direct operational influence.
- Sacks' Special Government Employee status expired after 130 days, ending his direct policy role over a year after appointment.
- He moves to co-chair PCAST, an advisory council newly joined by Zuckerberg, Andreessen, Huang, and Brin.
- His aggressive AI policy, including a push to ban state laws, created political backlash and contributed to his reassignment.
Why It Matters
This shift reduces Silicon Valley's direct policymaking power in the White House, moving influence from execution to advisory recommendations.