President Trump Orders Ban on Term 'Artificial Intelligence'

More than 70 years have passed since the phrase 'artificial intelligence' was coined, but President Donald Trump wants the term gone from official government use.

On Tuesday, Trump posted on Truth Social to criticize the Wall Street Journal for continuing to use the label. He called the name 'a very bad and inaccurate name' and stated that the administration would officially ban the term in all relevant documents.

The change follows a late September summit with tech leaders in Washington, D.C. On September 29, the president signed an executive order directing the executive branch to use 'Super Intelligence' or 'SI' instead of 'AI'. The order claims the new term better captures the promise and rapidly advancing capabilities of the technology.

Under the new policy, the executive branch will not acknowledge the usage of 'Artificial Intelligence' or 'AI' in any applicable setting to the maximum extent permitted by law. Trump's Tuesday post emphasized that virtually everyone else is using or soon will use the new name.

Major industry players have reacted differently to the shift. Anthropic and OpenAI have continued to describe their work as artificial intelligence. However, Elon Musk, who runs the x.ai division, supports the rebranding.

Musk wrote on X earlier this month, 'No more AI / SI / It's better.' When asked if his business would become SpaceXSI, he confirmed the change. The division is now known as 'SpaceX Super Intelligence,' though its website remains x.ai.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has also adopted the preferred terminology in recent communications. The company has not announced any name changes to its specific products, and the term 'AI' remains standard in computer science and across the private sector.