Donald Trump has issued an executive order directing federal agencies to refer to artificial intelligence as ‘super intelligence’ or ‘SI’ in official documents, following a meeting with top tech CEOs at the White House. The order, which has no legal effect on the private sector, was announced after Trump claimed that Chinese President Xi Jinping supports the renaming.
Tech insiders told Politico that the new terminology is unlikely to catch on. While some companies may use the term when dealing with the government, most will continue to use the established term AI. Adam Kovacevich, CEO of the Chamber of Progress, said the industry would not start calling the technology superintelligence, describing it as a phrase used only by MAGA supporters. The order could add confusion to policy discussions, according to Adam Thierer of the R Street Institute.
The word superintelligence already refers to an AI system that surpasses human intellect across multiple domains, a concept that has raised concerns about rogue AI and the need for guardrails. Researchers from Anthropic and OpenAI have warned that advanced AI could pose existential risks, and incidents such as a breach of Hugging Face’s infrastructure by an OpenAI‑created agent have fueled calls for oversight.
No major tech firms responded to inquiries about using the president’s terminology in marketing or customer communications. The White House released a list of CEOs who posted on X about the order, including Jensen Huang and Elon Musk. Meanwhile, bipartisan legislation aimed at holding AI companies accountable for rogue agents is pending a vote after the midterm recess, while Trump has signaled opposition to federal regulation, favoring self‑regulation by industry.
