Language matters, or at least that is the argument coming out of Washington. Donald Trump recently decided that the phrase "artificial intelligence" suffers from a major branding problem. Standing before the United Nations General Assembly, the US president announced that official government documents will stop using the term altogether. Instead, the technology will be known as "super intelligence" or "SI".
His reasoning comes down to perception. According to Trump, calling something "artificial" implies that it is counterfeit, weak, or fake. He told world leaders that the tech is real, amazing, and fundamentally misunderstood by critics.
The announcement followed a series of informal polls on Truth Social and X. Trump initially floated options like "superior intelligence," "extreme intelligence," and "supreme intelligence" before landing on "super intelligence". But while politicians can alter style guides in government paperwork, tech experts point out a massive flaw in the plan.
The Confusion Over Superintelligence
In computer science and philosophy, "superintelligence" is not a blank slate. It already has a distinct, accepted definition.
Coined decades ago by thinkers like Nick Bostrom, artificial superintelligence (ASI) refers to a hypothetical future stage where machines outpace human cognitive capabilities across every single discipline. Today's chatbots, image generators, and automation scripts are nowhere near that level. They remain narrow tools executing specific statistical functions.
By applying the term to basic machine learning models today, the rebranding creates instant confusion. You are taking a label meant for a science-fiction milestone and slapping it on everyday software.
The Politics of the Global Tech Race
Beyond semantics, the renaming ties directly into a broader geopolitical strategy. Trump made it clear that slowing down technological growth to appease safety advocates is a non-starter. He framed the situation as a high-stakes race against global competitors, declaring that whoever wins the technology wins the future.
Critics of rapid expansion, including various safety researchers and industry leaders, argue that moving too fast without guardrails invites catastrophe. Trump dismissed those concerns entirely, comparing the backlash to manufactured panics and pointing out that the US needs to aggressively protect its domestic sector.
As part of this push, the administration has floated plans to establish a specialized "AI Force" and appoint a centralized coordinator or "czar" to oversee national policy.
Will the New Name Actually Stick?
History shows that governments can mandate internal vocabulary, but they rarely control organic cultural shifts. Bureaucrats will likely use "SI" in federal filings to comply with executive directives. Meanwhile, engineers, researchers, and tech companies will keep using standard industry nomenclature.
Words carry weight, but a name change doesn't rewrite the underlying code. Whether you call it artificial or super, the technology keeps scaling up with no signs of slowing down.
