Donald Trump announced on Tuesday, October 27, on his social network Truth Social, his intention to ban “in the very short term” the phrase “artificial intelligence” in official documents of his administration, according to the executive order signed in late September on the subject. The US president wants to replace it with the term “superintelligence,” which he considers more accurate for describing this technology.
- Trump veut interdire officiellement le terme « intelligence artificielle » dans les documents de son administration.
- Son décret de septembre impose ce vocabulaire aux agences fédérales, sans prévoir de sanctions.
- Le secteur privé n’est pas concerné, même si certaines entreprises, comme celle d’Elon Musk, s’y conforment déjà.
- Les deux termes ne désignent pas la même réalité, car la superintelligence reste un objectif que les modèles actuels n’ont pas atteint.
“In little time, we will officially ban the term ‘AI/Artificial Intelligence,’ in all relevant documents, and everything else, due to its inaccuracy,” he wrote. In the same post, he asked when the Wall Street Journal would start calling artificial intelligence “superintelligence,” a term, according to him, that almost everyone already uses.
This is not the first time Donald Trump has attacked this designation. In September, during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, he had already argued for the use of the word “superintelligence.” According to him, the current phrase gives the impression that this technology is “fake,” whereas AI “is not fake.” The word “superintelligence,” on the other hand, “sounds much better” and would be “much more appropriate.”
A Decree Without Penalties
The executive order signed in late September, following a meeting with several CEOs of AI giants, officially imposes this terminology on government services. It also directs federal agencies to change how they describe AI in their official communications. However, it does not provide for any penalties for using the term.
The requirement does not extend to the private sector, where some players, like Elon Musk, are already complying. In early October, Donald Trump had written on Truth Social that “the White House considers as an ENEMY anyone who uses the term ‘artificial intelligence’ instead of the new, very well accepted and more accurate term ‘super intelligence’.”
Two Different Realities
However, the two phrases do not cover exactly the same reality. In the technology sector, superintelligence generally refers to an artificial intelligence capable of surpassing human reasoning abilities in all domains. While many companies, like Meta or OpenAI, hope to one day reach this stage, current models are still far from it.
OpenAI had already written in a blog post published in May 2024: “In terms of both potential benefits and downsides, superintelligence will be more powerful than any other technology humanity has had to contend with in the past.” It will therefore be difficult for these players to change their vocabulary overnight.
The desire to rename AI fits into a broader habit of the US president. Since his return to the White House, Donald Trump has multiplied initiatives aimed at changing the names of institutions, buildings, or geographical locations. He notably imposed the name “Gulf of America” instead of “Gulf of Mexico” and sought to rename the Kennedy Center in Washington as the “Trump-Kennedy Center.” This time, the stakes go beyond the simple question of the name. It remains to be seen whether official American vocabulary will follow suit.
