U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday intensified his push to rename artificial intelligence. He wrote on the social network Truth Social that the White House would consider anyone who continued to speak of artificial intelligence instead of superintelligence an enemy. According to him, the new term is universally accepted and more accurate. The problem is that even his own administration does not use it consistently, and it has little in common with what people in the technology world understand by superintelligence.
A Replacement for “AI”
Trump had been looking for a new name for artificial intelligence for several weeks. In a series of posts on Truth Social, he considered various options before ultimately choosing superintelligence, abbreviated as SI. At the end of September, he signed an executive order instructing federal agencies and departments to use the new term in official communications. However, the document does not specify any penalty for using the old abbreviation.
Some agencies adopted the new terminology quickly. The U.S. Department of State instructed diplomats to begin referring to superintelligence immediately after Trump’s speech at the UN on September 22.
Superintelligence That Is Merely Renamed AI
In the technology world, however, the term superintelligence means something entirely different. It refers to a still-hypothetical form of artificial intelligence that would surpass human intellect. Trump’s new name thus erases the distinction between the technology people use every day in chatbots and apps and something that no one has yet built.
Paradoxically, this is confirmed by the order itself. It defines superintelligence in exactly the same way that U.S. laws already define artificial intelligence. Only the label has changed; the substance remains the same.
The White House Is Struggling With the New Name
Even the president’s administration has yet to embrace the new name. The website of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy continues to refer to artificial intelligence.
On Thursday, officials attempted to remedy the situation at least on the AI.gov website. The page displayed SI.gov in enormous letters, but the actual address remained unchanged. Anyone who tries entering SI.gov into a browser ends up on an error page.
The government chatbot on the America.gov website proved somewhat more compliant. When an Axios reporter asked it about AI, it informed him that the executive branch uses the term superintelligence for this subject, rather than the older term chosen by the questioner. The White House did not respond to the publication’s request for comment.
Sources: axios.com and forbes.com
