United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing federal agencies to replace the terms “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in official government communications.
The order, signed on Tuesday, instructs executive departments and agencies to adopt the new terminology in official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents and other non-statutory materials.
According to the order, the change is intended to reflect the rapid advancement of the technology and the capabilities of modern systems, which the administration says now extend beyond the tasks originally associated with artificial intelligence.
The order stated that technologies being developed by American innovators have surpassed what was envisaged when the term “Artificial Intelligence” was introduced, with advanced systems increasingly amplifying human creativity and capabilities.
However, the directive does not require previously issued regulations, presidential actions, contracts, grants or historical government documents containing the term “Artificial Intelligence” to be altered.
Trump’s Assistant to the President for Science and Technology was also directed to work with relevant government agencies and submit proposed legislative language within 60 days to establish a federal definition for “Super Intelligence” and “SI.”
Trump had earlier announced the terminology change while unveiling the America.gov website, arguing that the word “artificial” did not adequately describe the capabilities of the technology.
“When you say artificial intelligence, it’s artificial. This is extreme intelligence. It’s superior intelligence. It’s supreme also intelligence, but the word super is the best word of all and it’s the simplest,” Trump said.
He said the technology was becoming increasingly powerful and described the new terminology as a more appropriate way of referring to its capabilities.
The White House said the terminology was intended to recognise what it described as the rapidly developing technological frontier and the potential of emerging systems to enable new forms of creativity and achievement.
The move comes amid continuing international debate over the development, regulation and safety of increasingly advanced AI systems.
Earlier on Tuesday, technology executives met with Trump at the White House and signed a voluntary agreement described as “morally binding”, aimed at establishing controls and oversight mechanisms for the development of advanced AI systems.