President Donald Trump used his address before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday morning to declare that the United States is officially changing the name of artificial intelligence to super intelligence.
The announcement, delivered during a wide-ranging speech, represents an unusual attempt to reshape how the technology is described in official American documents and, if Trump gets his way, around the world.
Why 'Artificial' Had to Go
At the heart of the president’s argument was a complaint about the word “artificial” itself. According to Trump, the term makes intelligence sound fake, and he said that is the wrong impression to give.
Intelligence, he told the assembled delegates, is not fake. He described it as amazing, and said the word “artificial” does not do justice to what the technology actually represents.
Super intelligence, by contrast, is the more accurate term in his view. It was not immediately clear from his remarks whether the change carries any formal legal weight, and Trump himself acknowledged uncertainty about whether he has the authority to rename a field of technology by decree.
All US Documents Will Use the New Term
What Trump presented as certain was the paperwork. He said every US document will now use the term super intelligence, a sweeping instruction that would touch federal agencies, reports, and official communications.
He also introduced an abbreviation for the term: SI. The shorthand, he suggested, should become standard usage.
And he did not limit the ambition to the United States. Trump said he hoped the rest of the world would adopt the new terminology as well, framing the rename as a global standard rather than a purely domestic one.
A Claim of Leadership Over China
Competition with China formed a key part of the president’s message on the technology. Trump asserted that the United States leads China in super intelligence, and he said the American advantage is substantial.
The claim fits into a broader theme of the speech: that the United States intends to remain at the front of the field. Trump said the country will continue to lead safely and responsibly.
He also said Americans never retreat from a frontier, casting super intelligence as the latest in a line of national challenges.
Encouragement, Not Restraint
On policy, Trump struck a deregulatory tone. He said he will encourage super intelligence rather than rein it in, and he promised not to stifle its growth.
At the same time, he assigned a role to the Department of Justice. Trump said the DOJ will watch super intelligence closely, and he described the department as being used powerfully on the subject. Other law enforcement bodies, he added, will rein things in if needed.
The combination — encouragement from the top, oversight from prosecutors — was presented without detailed explanation of how the two would coexist.
Bigger Than the Industrial Revolution
To underline the stakes, Trump compared super intelligence to two earlier transformative eras: the Industrial Revolution and the internet. He said super intelligence will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution.
The comparison placed the technology in a category of historical change rather than a single product or industry.
Trump also invoked the theme of freedom, saying it will never be surrendered. He noted that freedom has not been easily won, a reference to 250 years of American history.
Other Targets in the Speech
The super intelligence announcement was not the only subject Trump addressed. He also criticized Iran, globalists, and transgender people during his remarks.
Those passages were consistent with the broader, combative tone of the address. But the renaming proposal stood out as the most concrete policy declaration of the morning.
Whether the change takes hold beyond the president’s own remarks remains to be seen. For now, the United States has announced a new vocabulary for an old debate — and Trump has made clear he wants the world to follow.
