US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order directing the federal government to replace the terms “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “super intelligence” and “SI” across executive branch operations, saying the new terminology better reflects the rapid evolution of the technology.The order, titled “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence”, requires federal departments and agencies to use “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports and administrative policy documents.The directive says the change will apply “to the maximum extent permitted by law”. It also states that the executive branch will not acknowledge the use of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” in applicable official settings.The order does not apply the change retroactively. Existing regulations, government contracts, grants and historical archival records will not be altered because of the directive.
Why Trump is changing the terminology
The administration said the capabilities of modern frontier systems have moved far beyond the original concept of artificial intelligence, a term that dates back about 70 years.“The capabilities of today’s frontier systems do much more than imitate or automate discrete aspects of human intelligence. They increasingly amplify human ingenuity and unlock new forms of creativity, empowering Americans to achieve what was previously impossible across science, medicine, and nearly every other domain of human endeavour,” the order stated.The administration said the terminology used by the government should reflect these expanded capabilities.For now, the order applies the existing statutory definition of artificial intelligence under Title 15 of the US Code to “super intelligence”.The administration has also set a 60-day deadline for the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology to submit proposed legislation to Congress. The proposal is expected to establish a new federal statutory definition of “super intelligence” and suggest corresponding changes to existing US laws.
Trump’s pitch for a new technology era
The executive order came after Trump hosted a high-level White House luncheon with leading technology executives, including SpaceX and Tesla chief Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang.Trump described the technological shift as an unprecedented opportunity for the US.“It is the biggest thing there is — maybe the biggest thing there’s ever been. It’s much bigger than the Internet. This is unbelievable growth for our country — and we have all of them.”After the meeting, technology executives and administration officials briefed reporters on a White House Accord focused on developing super intelligence safely.Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the industry needed to ensure that people could trust the technology.“We want to give the American people and our customers confidence that the technology works in the way we intended.”Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei stressed the need for cooperation between the industry and the administration.“We all need to work together to make sure that we can win and we can win safely. If we do this right, if we work with the President and everyone here, we can win safely.”The discussions also covered national security and the US’s position in the global technology race.Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said: “The consensus today around that national security issue was being a leader in America in AI is the most important thing for national security.”
