Trump urges global shift from AI to ‘superintelligence’
Donald Trump said U.S. government documents should replace “artificial intelligence” with “superintelligence,” and expressed hope that other countries would follow. China has not said whether it will adopt the term.
President Donald Trump is seeking to change the language used for artificial intelligence, proposing that the rapidly developing technology be called “superintelligence,” or SI. He wants the terminology adopted across the U.S. government and has voiced hope that it will spread internationally, including to China, another leading power in artificial intelligence.
Trump made the proposal on Tuesday during the United Nations General Assembly. He said U.S. government documents would use SI in place of AI, and said he hoped the rest of the world would make the same change. His remarks framed the effort as more than a domestic adjustment, inviting other governments to use the alternative label as well.
The move was followed that same day by an instruction from the U.S. State Department. The department directed American diplomats to use “superintelligence” rather than “artificial intelligence” in their communications going forward, according to the account provided by the Associated Press. The order puts the change into practice in official diplomatic correspondence, beyond Trump’s public call for a broader shift.
China’s position remains unclear. Asked whether Beijing would adopt Trump’s preferred wording, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson did not say that the country would use SI. The spokesperson said China respects the choice of terminology, without committing the government to changing its own usage.
The exchange highlights the international dimension of Trump’s proposal: changing official language in Washington is within the administration’s reach, while persuading other governments is not. China’s response acknowledged the choice but stopped short of endorsing the new term, leaving open whether it will appear in Chinese official communications.
Artificial intelligence is the widely used name for computer systems and technologies designed to perform tasks associated with human intelligence. Trump’s proposed term emphasizes a more advanced-sounding vision of the field, but the material provided does not give a technical definition of SI or specify which systems would fall under it. No broader international agreement on the wording was announced.
For now, the concrete change described is the State Department’s direction to U.S. diplomats, alongside Trump’s stated plan for government documents. Whether the terminology will take hold beyond U.S. agencies—and whether China or other countries will adopt it—remains to be seen.
