Inside Trump's "super intelligence" naming problem
President Trump is pushing world leaders and U.S. agencies to rename AI "super intelligence." Why it matters: "Superintelligence" already has a distinct meaning in AI — and is fueling debates over whether the most advanced systems should be slowed or stopped. The big picture: Superintelligence — broadly, AI that surpasses human cognition — has become both an industry ambition and the focus of…
President Trump is urging world leaders and U.S. agencies to rename AI "super intelligence" to emphasize its authenticity. The issue arises because "superintelligence" already has a specific meaning in AI, sparking discussions on whether to curb or halt its development. Trump argues that the term "artificial" in "artificial intelligence" sounds fake and is misleading, despite the fact that AI is indeed real and remarkable.
He aims for all U.S. documents and likely the world to adopt the term "super," as opposed to artificial. China's President Xi Jinping reportedly found the idea appealing. The White House, however, has not confirmed whether they considered the existing meaning of "superintelligence" when Trump suggested the new name. Superintelligence, as defined by philosopher Nick Bostrom, is an intellect far surpassing human cognitive abilities in most domains.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also used the term extensively, even naming Meta's AI division "superintelligence." OpenAI warns in a 2023 memo that superintelligence could pose significant risks, potentially leading to humanity's disempowerment or extinction. Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic researcher, has warned that OpenAI and Anthropic are racing towards self-improving superintelligence, risking human lives.
A petition for a moratorium on superintelligence development, signed by tech figures like Geoffrey Hinton and Steve Wozniak, calls for delaying its development until 2040. Currently, OpenAI's president, Greg Brockman, predicts that their GPT-6 model, Astra, could be considered artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is also vaguely defined.
In a recent report, Google's DeepMind researchers stated that the first AGI would likely be superhuman in many tasks, already meeting the characteristics of "superintelligence." However, the boundaries between AGI and superintelligence remain unclear. Trump's proposed "SI" label enters a field where "superintelligence" is already established, creating potential confusion.
Written by urgent.news from Axios's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
