So, in light of these announcements, our first questions for today’s briefing will go to these new media members whose outlets, despite being some of the most viewed news websites in the country, have not been given seats in this room.
And before I turn to questions, I do have news directly from the president of the United States that was just shared with me in the Oval Office from President Trump directly — an update on the New Jersey drones: After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons.
Many of these drones were also hobbyists — recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones. In meanti- — in the — in time, it got worse, due to curiosity. This was not the enemy. A — a statement from the president of the United States to start this briefing with some news.
And with that, I will turn it over to questions, and we will begin with our new media members: Mike Allen from Axios, Matt Boyle from Breitbart.
Mike, why don’t you go ahead.
Q Thank you very much. Karoline, does the president see anything fishy about DeepSeek, either its origins or its cost? And could China’s ability to make these models quicker, cheaper affect our thinking about expanding generation data centers, chip manufacturing?
MS. LEAVITT: Sure. The president was asked about DeepSeek last night on Air Force One when he gaggled for, I think, the third or fourth time throughout the weekend with members of the traveling press corps. The president said that he believes that this is a wake-up call to the American AI industry. The last administration sat on their hands and allowed China to rapidly develop this AI program.
And so, President Trump believes in restoring American AI dominance, and that’s why he took very strong executive action this past week to sign executive orders to roll back some of the onerous regulations on the AI industry. And President Trump has also proudly appointed the first AI and crypto czar at this White House, David Sacks, whom I spoke with yesterday — very knowledgeable on this subject. And his team is here working every single day to ensure American AI dominance.
As for the national security implications, I spoke with NSC this morning. They are looking into what those may be, and when I have an update, I will share it with you, Mike.