Abstract:
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that anyone who does not use his preferred term "superintelligence" (SI) will be considered an "enemy" of the White House. Trump posted on the "Truth Social" platform: "The White House considers those who use the term 'artificial intelligence' instead of the widely recognized, newer and more accurate term 'superintelligence' - the enemy!"
Trump's comments suggested that the White House may punish companies or individuals that do not adhere to its preferred speech standards. Critics point out that if such measures are implemented, it will constitute a typical case of violating the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Although some technology companies, including Meta (which owns the "Superintelligence Laboratory"), had already used the concept of "superintelligence" in their branding before Trump took the above-mentioned move, their statements at the time were more focused on the future development of artificial intelligence than outright rejection of the term itself.
After meeting with U.S. technology industry leaders at the White House in late September, Trump signed an executive order requiring federal departments and agencies to use the term "Super Intelligence" ("SI") instead of "Artificial Intelligence" ("AI") "to the fullest extent permitted by law" in official correspondence, publicity, websites and other official communications.
The order does not apply to private companies such as OpenAI because the White House does not have the authority to enforce such measures.
Following Trump's relevant remarks and executive order, at least one company complied with the White House's wishes. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted on the X platform that the space and technology company will rename its artificial intelligence unit "SpaceXAI" to "SpaceXSI".
If Musk fulfills his promise, this will be the second name change this year for the company originally named xAI. SpaceX announced in February this year that it acquired xAI, the developer of the chatbot Grok, and renamed the division SpaceXAI in July.
As of Thursday afternoon local time, SpaceXAI’s X account name is still displayed as “SpaceXAI”.
It remains to be seen what other leading AI and technology companies will do.
On the day of the high-profile AI luncheon, Trump expressed his wishes, and then there was an embarrassing episode. During a panel discussion at the White House, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made a correction after accidentally saying "AI" instead of "SI." OpenAI President Gregg Brockman, speaking with Trump in close proximity, said the company is committed to "building artificial intelligence" for the benefit of everyone.
In a recent interview, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman denied that the company might change its name to "artificial intelligence."
“There are no plans for this,” he said in a podcast, “but we have been discussing ‘superintelligence’ frequently and will continue to discuss it in the future.”
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