DOJ creates task force to coordinate AI prosecutions and civil enforcement

AI-related criminal and civil enforcement will have a new coordinating body inside the Justice Department. On November 5, 2026, the department announced its Super Intelligence Task Force, assigning it work that includes recommending enforcement priorities and developing prosecution guidance. The group will also absorb an existing AI litigation initiative rather than start entirely from scratch.

A wider assignment than litigation alone

The new group, abbreviated DOJ-SITF, will incorporate the work of the AI Litigation Task Force established in January under former Attorney General Pam Bondi. Its remit includes coordinating affirmative civil litigation involving AI—cases the department brings. Its broader duties include:

• Bringing together the department’s criminal and civil enforcement efforts involving AI.
• Recommending enforcement priorities intended to prevent misuse of the technology.
• Developing guidance on prosecuting unlawful AI-related conduct.

The department has placed Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward and Associate Deputy Attorney General Stephen Weiss in charge.

Fraud, infrastructure and company controls

The department described a broad set of potential targets: foreign governments and state-sponsored actors, transnational criminal organizations, and individuals or companies engaged in fraud or other unlawful conduct.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department would continue identifying and prosecuting people whose use of the technology violates the law. He specifically named malicious targeting of American taxpayers, critical U.S. infrastructure and other aspects of national security.

Weiss also described a preventive role for law enforcement, not just a response after unlawful use:

The Department also has a responsibility to utilize law enforcement tools at our disposal to deter improper use of SI, harden regular reporting on SI risk and response, and ensure companies exercise vigorous internal controls so that SI technology behaves as intended.

Stephen Weiss, associate deputy attorney general, in the DOJ announcement

An enforcement body with an innovation mandate

The task force’s name follows the administration’s terminology policy. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in late September directing agencies to refer to artificial intelligence as “super intelligence.” The label reflects that naming choice, not a newly identified technical capability.

In an October 13 memo, Blanche said the group would take affirmative measures, as appropriate, to promote American “SI dominance.” Woodward likewise described the new effort as serving two goals: promoting innovation and preventing misuse.

DOJ-SITF will also be the department’s main point of contact with the White House’s Super Intelligence Force, led by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton. That separate group coordinates government engagement with organizations and AI companies. Blanche presented the partnership as a way to protect critical technologies from manipulation at home and abroad.