President Donald Trump renewed his demand Tuesday that artificial intelligence be called “super intelligence,” criticizing The Wall Street Journal for retaining the established terminology nearly a month after he directed federal agencies to adopt the new name.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump called Tuesday for the term “artificial intelligence” to be replaced with “super intelligence,” warning that the federal government would prohibit the older terminology in relevant documents as he pressed media organizations to adopt his preferred description of the technology.
In an Oct. 27 Truth Social post, Trump singled out The Wall Street Journal for continuing to use artificial intelligence, commonly abbreviated AI, instead of super intelligence, or SI.
“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.
“In short order, we will be officially BANNING the term, ‘AI/Artificial Intelligence,’ in all relevant documents, and everything else, due to its inaccuracy. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he added.
The president’s latest statement follows a Sept. 29 executive order that already directed executive branch agencies to replace the terminology in official government communications and documents.
Under the executive order titled “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence,” federal departments and agencies must use “Super Intelligence” and “SI” instead of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” in official correspondence, websites, reports, policy documents and other nonstatutory materials, to the extent permitted by law.
The order states that advances in artificial intelligence have created capabilities that the administration believes are more accurately described as super intelligence.
It also directs the assistant to the president for science and technology to develop proposed legislative language establishing a federal definition of the terminology within 60 days.
The order does not require changes to previously issued regulations, presidential actions, contracts, grants or other historical documents.
For implementation purposes, it defines super intelligence using the existing federal statutory definition of artificial intelligence unless that definition is subsequently changed through lawful executive action or legislation.
That distinction means the order changes the terminology used by executive agencies without automatically changing the underlying legal definition of the technology.
The White House outlined the policy in a Sept. 29 fact sheet, describing the change as recognition of the technology’s advancing capabilities and its potential economic benefits.
Trump also promoted the terminology during a Sept. 29 event announcing a government technology initiative.
“We’ve changed the name officially today,” Trump told reporters at the time. “We’ve changed the name, Steve, officially to SI. Okay? SI, like SI, SI instead of AI. You know what that means? Super Intelligence.”
The president argued that the word artificial does not adequately reflect the capabilities of increasingly sophisticated computer systems.
His latest remarks extend the dispute beyond government terminology to the language used by private news organizations.
The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets continue to use artificial intelligence, the established term for computer systems capable of performing tasks associated with human intelligence, including language processing, image recognition and decision-making.
In scientific and technical discussions, artificial superintelligence generally refers to a hypothetical level of intelligence exceeding human capabilities across a broad range of cognitive tasks.
That meaning differs from the broader category of artificial intelligence, which includes existing software systems that do not possess such capabilities.
Trump’s executive order uses the term super intelligence more broadly, applying it to technologies already covered by the federal definition of AI.
The distinction could create differences between federal terminology and language used by researchers, technology companies, universities and international organizations.
The president’s Tuesday statement did not announce a new executive order or identify additional enforcement mechanisms beyond the policy established in September.
Although the administration can direct terminology used within executive branch communications, its existing order does not establish a general prohibition on private individuals or news organizations using the term artificial intelligence.
The First Amendment also limits the government’s authority to restrict how independent publishers describe technology.
According to Reuters’ Oct. 27 report, Trump reiterated his intention to eliminate the terminology while questioning why The Wall Street Journal had not adopted his preferred replacement.
The dispute comes as artificial intelligence remains a major focus of federal technology policy, business investment and competition among the United States, China and other countries developing advanced computing systems.
Trump has repeatedly described the technology as an important driver of future economic growth and national competitiveness.
His administration has emphasized efforts to accelerate technological development while maintaining American leadership in advanced computing.
The September executive order represents an attempt to align federal language with that broader policy message.
Tuesday’s comments make clear that Trump also wants the terminology adopted outside government, particularly by prominent media organizations.
For now, federal agencies are operating under the September renaming directive, while artificial intelligence remains the widely used term across the technology industry, academic research and independent news coverage.
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