US President Donald Trump has announced that the US government will officially replace the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) with "Super Intelligence" (SI), describing the technology as potentially bigger than the internet.
Trump made the announcement during a high-level White House luncheon attended by leading technology executives, including Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang.
Trump said an executive document would formally introduce the new terminology. He argued that the term "artificial" no longer adequately describes the capabilities of advanced AI systems.
"It is the biggest thing there is — maybe the biggest thing there's ever been. It's much bigger than the Internet," Trump said while discussing the technology and its potential impact on the US economy.
The administration's move is focused on changing the terminology used by the federal government. Under the directive, executive departments and agencies are expected to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in official communications, websites, reports and policy documents. The order does not retroactively change existing regulations, government contracts, grants or historical records.
The White House has also linked the push to the rapid development of advanced computing and the infrastructure required to support it. Trump said technology companies should work with communities hosting data centres, including through support for local schools and other community initiatives.
Safety and responsible development were also discussed during the meeting. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the industry needed to build public confidence that the technology would operate as intended, while Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for cooperation between technology companies and the administration to ensure that the development of advanced systems remains safe.
The discussions also touched on national security and America's position in the global technology race. Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said maintaining US leadership in AI was an important national security issue.
The terminology change comes as governments and technology companies continue to debate how increasingly capable AI systems should be regulated, developed and integrated into areas ranging from science and medicine to national security and the economy.
