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By Hollie Silverman
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President Donald Trump is officially banning the terms “AI” and “Artificial Intelligence,” he said Tuesday, escalating his effort to rebrand the technology as “Super Intelligence,” or “SI,” across the executive branch.
“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 on Truth Social. “In short order, we will be officially BANNING the term, ‘AI/Artificial Intelligence,’ in all relevant documents, and everything else, due to its inaccuracy.”
The White House told Newsweek in an emailed statement Tuesday that the terminology change reflects the administration's push to emphasize the potential of the technology and U.S. leadership in the field.
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“The United States is the world leader in Super Intelligence, and the federal government should use a name that reflects the full promise and opportunities of this technology,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston said. “The name Super Intelligence reinforces the Administration’s focus on advancing American innovation, strengthening our economy, and harnessing these cutting-edge technologies to improve the lives of the American people."
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Trump signed an executive order in September directing the executive branch to replace the terms “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI.”
Trump's push to rename AI comes amid an intensifying debate over how quickly increasingly powerful systems should be developed and how governments should respond to their risks.
Researchers, policymakers and technology executives have raised concerns ranging from job displacement, misinformation and cybersecurity threats to the possibility that increasingly capable systems could become difficult for humans to control.
The rebranding also comes as some of the industry's most prominent figures issue increasingly stark warnings about the technology's risks. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, warned in September that the future of AI could go “very badly” if companies fail to maintain control as systems become more powerful.
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Altman said AI safety measures must keep pace with rapidly advancing capabilities and warned that humanity could lose control of the future to AI. He also raised the possibility that the technology could produce a dystopian concentration of power, while stressing that AI must remain under human control and serve people.
Those concerns have been echoed by former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who warned that the rapid pace of AI development heading into 2027 is “pretty scary,” adding to concerns from industry insiders about whether safeguards can keep pace with increasingly powerful systems.
Trump's rebranding effort does not itself amount to slowing or restricting development of the technology. Instead, the administration has framed “Super Intelligence” as language intended to emphasize American leadership, innovation and the potential economic benefits of increasingly sophisticated systems.
What Trump Has Said About Using 'Super Intelligence'
Trump has argued that “artificial intelligence” is an inaccurate description of the technology and that “super intelligence” better captures its capabilities and potential.
His latest Truth Social post called AI “a very bad and inaccurate name” and predicted that “virtually everyone else” would use “SI” soon.
His comments build on action taken by his administration in September. According to the White House, Trump signed an executive order directing the executive branch to replace “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI.”
The White House says the terminology is intended to underline the administration's focus on innovation, economic growth and U.S. technological leadership.
There is a technical distinction between the terms as they have traditionally been used. “Artificial intelligence” is a broad term covering computer systems capable of performing tasks associated with human intelligence, while “superintelligence” has commonly referred to a theoretical or future form of intelligence that exceeds human capabilities across a wide range of areas.
Can Trump Legally 'Ban' Words?
The scope of Trump 's authority depends heavily on where and how a word is being restricted. A president generally has broad authority to direct the executive branch, including how executive agencies communicate.
The U.S. Supreme Court's government-speech doctrine also gives governments considerable latitude over their own speech. The Constitution Annotated explains that the government is generally “entitled to say what it wishes” when it is speaking for itself.
That authority is not unlimited. Presidential directives must remain consistent with federal statutes and constitutional requirements, and an executive order cannot override a law enacted by Congress simply because the president wants different terminology.
List of Words, Terminology That Trump Has 'Banned'
Trump's latest comments echo a controversy from his first administration over terms that federal officials were reportedly advised to avoid in certain government materials.
In 2017, the Human Rights Campaign projected seven disputed words onto the Trump International Hotel in Washington after reports that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials had been advised against using the terms in documents associated with the federal budget.
The terms:
- Diversity
- Transgender
- Fetus
- Vulnerable
- Entitlement
- Science-based
- Evidence-based
Federal health officials disputed reports that the terms had formally been banned, and then-CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald said at the time: “There are no banned words at CDC,” NBC reported.
How Trump's 'Ban' Impacts Government Resources
Unlike the controversy surrounding the seven terms in 2017, Trump's AI terminology change is backed by an executive order, according to the White House.
A White House official told Newsweek that the September order directs the executive branch to replace “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI.”
That means executive departments and agencies covered by the order are being directed to use the administration's preferred terminology in place of the long-established AI language.
The precise practical effects of the “ban” depend on the scope and implementation requirements of the executive order and any subsequent agency guidance.
The order also does not establish that private businesses, researchers, journalists or members of the public must stop using “AI” or “Artificial Intelligence.”
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn
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Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Hollie Silverman and Dave Siminoff.
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