Trump’s Crazy AI Rebrand Was a Loyalty Test for Tech Execs—and It Worked
For years these billionaires gushed obsessively about AI. But they meekly went along when Trump cancelled the term.
President Donald J. Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the term "artificial intelligence," leading to the issuance of an executive order declaring it a "verboten coinage." In its place, the government will refer to it as "Super Intelligence." The private sector, including AI leaders such as Jeff Bezos, Jensen Huang, and Elon Musk, promptly acquiesced to the president's request, quietly adopting the new term.
This rebranding, seen as a loyalty test by author Jacob Weisberg, aimed to gauge the compliance of powerful individuals who might bend to avoid the president's wrath. Despite the potential implications, no one publicly objected to the change, and the executives seem content to accept the new moniker. The name alteration might seem trivial compared to the concerns surrounding AI's potential hazards, but for the AI community, the term holds significant importance.
The president's insistence on the change appears rooted in a personal preference, possibly linked to his broader skepticism towards the news media's portrayal of AI as "fake."
Written by urgent.news from Wired's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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