President Donald Trump is making it clear that using the term ‘Artificial Intelligence‘ could land you on his enemies list. This move comes after he took to Truth Social to warn that the White House considers anyone using the phrase, as opposed to his preferred term, Super Intelligence, to be “THE ENEMY,” the Independent reports.
The president signed an executive order directing federal agencies to adopt the label “Super Intelligence” after meeting with industry leaders. Attendees at this lunch included Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, and Dario Amodei.
This shift follows remarks made to the U.N. General Assembly, where the president claimed that using the word artificial implies the technology is fake. He stated, “It makes it sound fake, and it is not fake. It’s actually amazing.” Before formalizing this, he even ran a poll on Truth Social asking for votes on options like Super Intelligence, Superior Intelligence, or Extreme Intelligence.
This push for new terminology arrives during a period where public support for the industry is clearly declining
Recent data from a Quinnipiac University survey of 1,032 registered voters indicates that 73 percent of people oppose building data centers in their communities. This sentiment is shared across party lines, with 55 percent of Republicans expressing opposition. Furthermore, 79 percent of those surveyed believe safety is a higher priority than maintaining a lead in development. Approval ratings for the president’s management of this technology are sitting at just 25 percent, while 58 percent of voters disapprove.
The situation is worsened by the fact that the term superintelligence already has a specific meaning in the tech world. It typically refers to an AI system that exceeds human intellect across various domains, including scientific research and social skills. This is often the type of advanced technology that triggers public concern regarding the need for safety guardrails and kill switches. By rebranding the technology, the president is wading into complex territory that experts have been studying for years.
This is not the first time the president has attempted to enforce specific naming conventions. Just over a month ago, he issued an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America following trade tensions with Canada. This mirrors a previous attempt to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
The industry itself has remained quiet regarding these demands. Requests for comment sent to companies including NVIDIA, Palantir, Meta, OpenAI, Google, Tesla, and Anthropic regarding their plans to use the new terminology went unanswered.
Despite this silence, the White House continues to highlight specific tech CEOs, such as Elon Musk and Jensen Huang, who have utilized the phrase. It is, however, becoming increasingly difficult for the administration to align public sentiment with its preferred branding, especially as polling from Fox News shows that unfavorable views of the technology have grown from minus 9 in July to minus 23 by late September.
Published: Oct 8, 2026 04:55 pm