NEW YORK — US President Donald Trump has said the United States will begin referring to artificial intelligence, AI, as “super intelligence” in official government documents.
Trump made the announcement on Tuesday while addressing the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, arguing that the word “artificial” makes intelligence sound fake.
“The use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake. It makes it sound fake, and it is not fake. It’s actually amazing, but we have to be careful,” Trump said.
He added: “From this point forward, all of United States documents and hopefully the world’s will be changed to use the much more accurate term super, as opposed to artificial.
“So it’s super intelligence. In other words, welcome to the new world of super intelligence — SI. Let’s see if that goes. It sounds much better.”
Trump also rejected calls for tighter international controls on AI, saying the United States would encourage the development of the technology rather than restrict it.
He said every major new technology comes with challenges, but argued that the potential benefits of advanced AI outweighed calls to slow its development.
“These are the same people that are now saying that AI is going to kill us all, that robots are going to attack us, and that everything is going to be a total disaster,” he said.
Trump compared such warnings with previous concerns over climate change and said the country that leads in advanced AI would have a major global advantage.
“Whoever wins SI, whoever wins super intelligence, wins,” he said.
“That’s the group that wins. And we’re leading now over China by a lot and everyone else, and we’re going to keep it that way.”
He said he would not “stifle” the technology’s growth, describing it as potentially bigger than the Industrial Revolution or the internet.
“We will only encourage super intelligence. We’re going to encourage it, not rein it in,” Trump said, adding that the US government would monitor the technology through the Department of Justice and other law-enforcement agencies where necessary.
“The United States leads the world in super intelligence and will continue to do so safely and responsibly,” he said.
The term “superintelligence” already has a distinct meaning in AI research, generally referring to a form of intelligence that exceeds human capabilities. Trump’s proposed use of the term therefore differs from its established technical meaning.
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