The President of the United States, Donald Trump, wants the term “artificial intelligence” to disappear in favor of “super-intelligence”. In a post on Truth Social, he announced his intention to “FORMALLY BAN” the expression “AI/Artificial intelligence” in relevant documents, “because of its imprecision”.
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the capability of computer systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem solving, perception, or decision making. The term has been in use for over 70 years and remains widely employed by computer scientists and the technology sector.
A decree and threats
At the end of September, following a summit bringing together AI sector officials in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump signed a decree requiring government documents to use “super-intelligence” or “SI” instead of “artificial intelligence” or “AI”. The text, dated September 29, explains this choice as follows: “The term super-intelligence better reflects the promises, potential, and rapidly evolving capabilities of these technologies”.
In early October, the president took a further step. He declared that anyone who used the expression “artificial intelligence” would be treated as “THE ENEMY”, without specifying the consequences of that designation. “The White House considers anyone using the term artificial intelligence instead of the new term super-intelligence, which is widely accepted and more precise, to be THE ENEMY!”, he wrote. He also criticized the Wall Street Journal for using the term “AI”, without the source providing a reason for this criticism.
These statements come a week before the United States midterm elections.
Mixed reactions in the industry
Most AI-focused companies, including Anthropic and OpenAI, continue to describe themselves using the terms “artificial intelligence” and “AI”. Elon Musk, a Trump ally, however supports the change. He wrote on X at the beginning of the month: “No more AI / SI / It’s better that way”. When asked by a user about a possible renaming of his AI company to “SpaceXSI”, he replied: “Yes, we will proceed with that change”. The relevant division is now called “SpaceX Super Intelligence” and “SpaceXSI”, although its website remains “x.ai”.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has also adopted the “super intelligence” terminology, but the company has announced no corresponding product name changes.
This debate is part of a series of decrees aimed at renaming places, including the Gulf of Mexico, which will now be called the “Gulf of America”. Donald Trump also sought to rename the Atlantic Ocean, but Google’s CEO refused to implement that change in Google Maps.
Experts denounce a political attempt to conceal the technology’s real limitations and risks while overstating its capabilities. Linguist Naomi Susan Baron calls this redefinition “naïvely optimistic and dangerous”. For computational linguistics professor Emily Bender, “languages belong to their communities”. According to linguists, language should evolve through natural usage rather than by presidential decree.
