US President Donald Trump has stated that the United States will start calling artificial intelligence, AI, “Super Intelligence” in official government documents.
Trump announced this on Tuesday while speaking at the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, contending that the term “artificial” makes intelligence seem fake.
“The use of the word ‘artificial’ makes intelligence fake. It makes it sound fake, and it is not fake. It’s actually amazing, but we have to be careful,” Trump said.
He added, “From this point forward, all of United States documents and hopefully the world’s will be changed to use the much more accurate term ‘super,’ as opposed to ‘artificial.'”
“So it’s super intelligence. In other words, welcome to the new world of super intelligence—SI. Let’s see if that goes. It sounds much better.”
Trump likewise dismissed appeals for stricter global oversight of AI, stating that the United States would promote the advancement of the technology instead of limiting it.
He noted that all significant new technologies bring challenges, yet he contended that the possible advantages of advanced AI surpassed demands to decelerate its development.
“These are the same people that are now saying that AI is going to kill us all, that robots are going to attack us, and that everything is going to be a total disaster,” he said.
Trump likened these warnings to earlier worries about climate change, adding that whichever nation leads in advanced AI would hold a significant global advantage.
“Whoever wins SI, whoever wins super intelligence, wins,” he said.
“That’s the group that wins. And we’re leading now over China by a lot and everyone else, and we’re going to keep it that way.”
He stated that he would not “stifle” the technology’s growth, describing it as potentially bigger than the Industrial Revolution or the internet.
“We will only encourage superintelligence. We’re going to encourage it, not rein it in,” Trump said, adding that the US government would monitor the technology through the Department of Justice and other law-enforcement agencies where necessary.
“The United States leads the world in super intelligence and will continue to do so safely and responsibly,” he said.
In AI research, the term “superintelligence” already carries a specific meaning, typically denoting a kind of intelligence that surpasses human abilities.
As a result, Trump’s proposed use of the term diverges from its established technical definition.
