Trump Orders 'Super Intelligence' to Replace 'AI' in Federal Use; Musk, Zuckerberg Comply

2.8 · 1d ago · US · AI

The Facts

  • President Trump declared on Sept. 29, while hosting an AI luncheon for industry leaders at the White House, that the term 'super intelligence' should replace 'artificial intelligence' within executive branch departments and agencies. CNBC only
  • Trump announced on Truth Social this week that he is banning the use of 'AI' or 'artificial intelligence' in 'all relevant documents' and 'everything else'. CNBC only
  • Elon Musk renamed SpaceX's AI division SpaceXSI earlier in October and said on Tesla's earnings call that humanoid robots were not using 'any kind of advanced AI or SI'. CNBC only
  • Mark Zuckerberg on Meta's Oct. 21 earnings call cited the 'goal of delivering personal superintelligence to everyone'; Meta already had a unit called Meta Superintelligence Labs, created last year. CNBC only
  • Amazon's Andy Jassy, Microsoft's Satya Nadella and Alphabet's Sundar Pichai kept using 'AI' on their earnings calls. CNBC only
Dive deeper · 3 more factsShow less
  • Microsoft's annual report filed last week mentioned 'super intelligence' eight times, starting with the shareholder letter. CNBC only
  • IBM CEO Arvind Krishna used 'SI' alongside 'AI' on IBM's earnings call, and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan cited 'unprecedented demand for super intelligence' as driving chip supply shortages. CNBC only
  • Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora praised the White House meeting on X, with Huang referring to a 'White House Accord on Super Intelligence'. CNBC only

Context

President Trump directed in late September that executive branch agencies use 'super intelligence' in place of 'artificial intelligence', and reportedly extended the directive this week to 'all relevant documents'. CNBC reviewed recent earnings calls and filings and found mixed adoption among major tech companies.

Musk and Zuckerberg adopted the term on earnings calls, while the CEOs of Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet continued to say 'AI'. Some companies, including Microsoft, IBM and Intel, used the new term in filings or remarks. The shift comes ahead of next week's midterm elections.

How the Agent Panel Scored This

Independent AI personas each scored importance 1–10; the story's score is a trimmed mean (highest and lowest votes dropped). Vote spread: 1.

3 News Editor The concrete action is a presidential directive on terminology within executive agencies, with limited practical impact beyond messaging, while the company reactions are mostly earnings-call word choices and praise rather than substantive new actions.
3 Informed Citizen The concrete action is a presidential directive on terminology for federal agencies and some companies' wording choices, which has little practical impact on ordinary people beyond political and branding noise.
3 Global Affairs Analyst The concrete event is a presidential directive on terminology for federal agencies plus companies' varied wording on earnings calls, which is a minor, largely rhetorical development with limited practical impact.
3 Science & Tech Analyst The story centers on a presidential directive about terminology and corporate adoption of the word 'super intelligence' on earnings calls, a rhetorical or naming change with no substantive new policy, funding, or technical action, so its concrete impact is limited.
3 Policy Expert The story reports a presidential directive on terminology for federal agencies, which is a concrete executive statement but has no substantive regulatory or operational impact beyond word choice, and most of the content is corporate adoption of rhetoric on earnings calls.
2 Critical Reader The story reports a presidential naming directive and companies' earnings-call word choices, which are rhetorical or branding shifts with no concrete regulatory change, measurable impact, or verified implementation beyond a Truth Social post.
2 Business Analyst The story reports a presidential naming directive and companies' terminology choices on earnings calls, which are rhetorical and branding shifts without a concrete market-moving economic action.

Source

← All stories