Trump Says ‘Artificial Intelligence’ Is ‘a Very Bad and Inaccurate Name,’ and That He Wants to Officially Ban the Term ‘AI’
President Donald Trump doesn't like the term "artificial intelligence" — which was coined more than 70 years ago and is widely used by computer scientists and the tech industry — and says he wants to ban the usage of "AI" in favor of "super intelligence."
In a post Tuesday on Truth Social, with one week to go before the U.S. midterm elections, the president for some reason singled out the Wall Street Journal for its use of the AI term.
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"When will The Wall Street Journal start calling Artificial Intelligence (AI), a very bad and inaccurate name, SI (Super Intelligence), the name which virtually everyone else is using, or soon will be," Trump wrote. "In short order, we will be officially BANNING the term, 'AI/Artificial Intelligence,' in all relevant documents, and everything else, due to its inaccuracy. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP"
In late September, after a summit with AI leaders in Washington, D.C., Trump issued an executive order requiring government documents to refer to "super intelligence" or "SI" rather than "artificial intelligence" or "AI" going forward.
"[T]he term 'Super Intelligence' more appropriately captures the promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities of these technologies," said the president's Sept. 29 executive order. "It is therefore the policy of my Administration that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the executive branch shall use the terms 'Super Intelligence' and 'SI' in place of 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI' and will not acknowledge the usage of 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI' in any applicable setting."
Most AI companies, including Anthropic and OpenAI, have continued to use "artificial intelligence" and "AI" to describe themselves.
But Trump-friendly billionaire Elon Musk, for one, is on board with Trump's rebranding of the tech. "No more AI / SI / It's better," Musk wrote on his X platform earlier this month. Asked by a user on X whether that meant he would rename his AI business as "SpaceXSI," Musk responded: "Yes, we will make that change." The division is now known as "SpaceX Super Intelligence" and "SpaceXSI," although its website is still "x.ai."
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, meanwhile, also has used Trump's preferred "super intelligence" terminology, but the company hasn't announced any corresponding name changes to its products.
Trump has issued edicts renaming other things, including the Gulf of Mexico (to be called the "Gulf of America") and Lake Ontario (which he wants to be known as "Lake America"). Trump recently said he wanted to rename the Atlantic Ocean — but that Google's CEO refused to agree to make such a change in Google Maps.
In addition, Trump's allies renamed the Kennedy Center as "The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts," but the name change was reversed by a federal court , which ruled that it was illegal.
RELATED: White House's New AI Website Confirms Trump Lost the 2020 Presidential Election
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