President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he plans to officially ban the term “artificial intelligence” and its short form, “AI.” He wants the technology to be called “Super Intelligence,” or “SI,” instead.
The announcement came in a post on Truth Social, one week before the U.S. midterm elections.
In the post, Trump singled out The Wall Street Journal for continuing to use the term.
“When will The Wall Street Journal start calling Artificial Intelligence (AI), a very bad and inaccurate name, SI (Super Intelligence), the name which virtually everyone else is using, or soon will be,” Trump wrote.
He added that “in short order, we will be officially BANNING the term, ‘AI/Artificial Intelligence,’ in all relevant documents, and everything else, due to its inaccuracy.”
Executive Order Already in Place
The post builds on an executive order Trump signed on Sept. 29. That order followed a summit with AI industry leaders in Washington, D.C.
The order says the executive branch shall use “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in place of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” to the maximum extent permitted by law.
It states that the new term “more appropriately captures the promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities of these technologies.”
Trump has argued that the word “artificial” makes the technology seem “fake,” according to German news agency DPA. DPA also reported that he said the White House would regard anyone still using the term AI as an enemy.
The term “artificial intelligence” was coined more than 70 years ago. It is widely used by computer scientists and the tech industry.
How Tech Companies Are Responding
Most AI companies, including Anthropic and OpenAI, still use “artificial intelligence” and “AI” to describe themselves.
Elon Musk has backed the change. “No more AI / SI / It’s better,” Musk wrote on X earlier this month.
When a user asked if he would rename his AI business, Musk said, “Yes, we will make that change.” The division is now called “SpaceX Super Intelligence” or “SpaceXSI,” though its website is still x.ai.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has also used the term “super intelligence.” However, Microsoft has not announced any name changes to its products.
Trump has renamed other things during his time in office. These include the Gulf of Mexico, which he calls the “Gulf of America,” and Lake Ontario, which he wants called “Lake America.”
He recently said he wanted to rename the Atlantic Ocean. He said Google’s CEO refused to make that change in Google Maps.
Trump’s allies also renamed the Kennedy Center to include Trump’s name. A federal court later ruled that change illegal and reversed it.
As of Tuesday, U.S. media outlets still mainly use the term “artificial intelligence.” Trump did not give a date for the ban, saying only that it would happen “in short order.”
