The United States has renamed artificial intelligence to ‘Super Intelligence.’ That is the headline. An executive order signed by President Trump directs federal agencies to stop using the words ‘artificial intelligence’ and ‘AI’ and replace them with ‘Super Intelligence’ and ‘SI’ instead.
The move is not subtle. The full text of the order states that the term ‘Super Intelligence’ more accurately captures ‘the promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities of these technologies.’ It then commands that ‘to the maximum extent permitted by law, the executive branch shall use the terms “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in place of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” and will not acknowledge the usage of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” in any applicable setting.’
White House Accord Signatories
The renaming comes alongside a White House Accord on Super Intelligence. Signed by a who’s-who of the people who have made PC gaming almost impossibly expensive, the document reads like a pledge from the industry to regulate itself. The signatories include Sundar Pichai of Google, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Greg Brockman of OpenAI, Elon Musk of XAI, and Jensen Huang of Nvidia.
Zuckerberg posted his endorsement on X: ‘We believe superintelligence will create significant new opportunities for all people and businesses.’ Huang referred to ‘super intelligence’ three times in his own X post. Musk endorsed the rebranding on X but was back to calling it AI less than eight hours later.
The Gulf of Mexico Precedent
The move echoes a precedent set earlier in Trump’s presidency. Pichai previously acquiesced to Trump’s demand to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario for US users of Google Maps. The pattern is familiar: Trump asks, tech companies comply, and the public gets a new name for something they already knew.
The spelling mistake on the executive order is a small detail but a telling one. Under Trump’s signature, the document refers to the ‘Unites States’ rather than the ‘United States.’ It is a typo that has become a fixture of Trump-era documents, a reminder that the man running the country sometimes mistypes his own country’s name.
What the Accord Actually Says
The accord is explicit about what it is not. It makes no mention of regulatory oversight or government involvement. Instead, it relies entirely on voluntary cooperation among the signatory companies.
The document states: ‘In order to build a positive future for the American people and the world, we believe every company is responsible for developing its own technology safely and in a way that builds trust with customers and the public.’ It later adds that ‘participating companies will meet regularly to establish standards and best practices to improve the safety of their systems.’
Bill Gates told the New York Times: ‘It’s fair to say that outside of the industry, the awareness of the dangers of A.I. is extremely low… And you can’t rely on the industry to self-regulate here. I mean, it’s just insane.’
The Practical Effect So Far
The renaming has had almost no effect beyond White House sycophants and MAGA press outlets. Nobody else has followed the order, and nobody else is expected to. The order applies only to the executive branch, and even there it is a directive, not a requirement.
The companies that signed the accord have not changed their own language. Musk reverted to ‘AI’ within hours of endorsing ‘Super Intelligence.’ The rest of the industry has stayed silent.
The Irony of the Rebrand
The irony is that the whole exercise is meaningless. The technology does not change because its name changes. Calling AI ‘Super Intelligence’ does not make it smarter, safer, or more trustworthy.
What the renaming does do is signal. It signals that the administration believes AI is powerful enough to deserve a grander title. It signals that the industry is willing to accept whatever framing the White House offers. And it signals that the public is being asked to treat ‘Super Intelligence’ as a settled matter, even though nothing about the technology has actually changed.
Gates’s Warning
Gates’s warning is worth repeating. He said that outside of the industry, awareness of the dangers of AI is extremely low. He also said that relying on the industry to self-regulate is insane.
Those two points are connected. If the public does not understand the risks, it cannot hold anyone accountable. If the industry is left to regulate itself, the risks are not addressed. The administration’s response has been to change the name, not the oversight.
The Bottom Line
The renaming is a performance, not a policy. It is a headline designed to make the administration look decisive. It is a pledge that asks companies to do what they were already doing, but with a new label attached.
The question is whether anyone outside the room noticed. The answer is probably no. The renaming has had practically no effect beyond White House sycophants and MAGA press outlets.
The order directs the executive branch to use ‘Super Intelligence’ and ‘SI’ instead of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘AI.’ It does not change the technology. It does not make the technology safer. It does not increase public awareness of the dangers.
It simply gives the administration a new word to use.
The irony is that the administration has spent political capital on a name change while Gates warns that outside awareness of AI risks is low and that self-regulation cannot be relied upon.
The administration has chosen to let the industry police itself. Gates has said that is insane.
The renaming has had practically no effect beyond White House sycophants and MAGA press outlets.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs none of the two sides here, since the order is merely a renaming directive without any actual regulatory content, and instead reiterates its general stance: narrow rules against direct harm, such as forcing companies to disclose safety failures they hid, while opposing broad rules that hand the market to the incumbents. The paper opposes letting big companies hide their failures, and it opposes broad new rulebooks that protect the biggest players and raise the cost of entry for small ones.
The renaming directive changes nothing about the technology itself. It does not increase public awareness of the dangers of AI, which Bill Gates warned is extremely low. It does not address the risk of self-regulation, which Gates called insane. It is a headline designed to make the administration look decisive, and the practical effect so far has been almost nonexistent beyond White House sycophants and MAGA press outlets.
Readers should watch for the next step. The White House Accord on Super Intelligence asks companies to develop their own technology safely and build trust with customers, but it contains no regulatory oversight. Gates’s warning about low public awareness and the insanity of self-regulation is the real question, and the administration’s response has been cosmetic. The technology remains unregulated, and the public remains unaware.
Key Facts Box
- Executive order: Signed by President Trump
- New term: ‘Super Intelligence’/’SI’
- Replaces: ‘Artificial Intelligence’/’AI’
- Signatories to the White House Accord: Sundar Pichai (Google), Dario Amodei (Anthropic), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Greg Brockman (OpenAI), Elon Musk (XAI), Jensen Huang (Nvidia)
- Musk reverted to ‘AI’: Less than eight hours after endorsing ‘Super Intelligence’
- Spelling error: ‘Unites States’ under Trump’s signature
- Gates’s warning: Outside awareness of AI dangers is extremely low; industry self-regulation is insane
The administration’s own words capture the scale of the project. The order is not about fixing a problem. It is about declaring a victory. The technology remains the same. The name has changed. And the people who signed the accord have not changed their language. Musk was back to calling it AI within hours.
Source material: “The Americans have officially renamed artificial intelligence to 'Super Intelligence,' which should fix everything,” PC Gamer.
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