Washington: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration would begin using the term “Superintelligence” instead of artificial intelligence, adding that the word “artificial” inaccurately suggested the technology was fake.
Trump announced the change during his address to the UN General Assembly in New York.
He said the new term would appear in US government documents and expressed hope that other countries would follow Washington’s example.
“From this point forward, all of United States documents, and hopefully the world’s, will be changed to use the much more accurate term Super as opposed to Artificial,” Trump added.
“So, it’s Superintelligence. In other words, welcome to the new world of Superintelligence-SI,” he said.
Trump added the technology was real and potentially transformative, although it presented challenges that would require careful oversight.
“Every major new technology brings challenges, and Superintelligence is no exception,” he said.
Rejecting efforts to create an international system for regulating the technology, Trump described such proposals as attempts to establish a “globalist scheme” for controlling its development.
“The United States also totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control for the artificial intelligence being spoken of so much now,” the US President said.
Dismissing warnings that advanced AI and robots could pose an existential threat to humanity, Trump compared such concerns with previous predictions about climate change and accused their proponents of repeatedly promoting fear.
The US President said the United States would not restrict the growth of a technology that could become more consequential than the Industrial Revolution or the internet.
“I’m not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution,” he added.
Trump nevertheless said the administration would monitor the sector and use the Department of Justice and other law enforcement agencies when intervention became necessary.
The US President framed the development of advanced AI as a strategic competition among countries, with technological leadership determining global power.
“Whoever wins AI, you have to remember this. And now I say, whoever wins SI, whoever wins Superintelligence wins,” Trump said.
“That’s the group that wins.”
Trump claimed that the United States was far ahead of China and other countries and pledged to preserve that advantage.
“We’re leading now over China by a lot and everyone else and we’re going to keep it that way,” he said.
The US President did not explain how the terminology change would be implemented across government agencies or whether it would require an executive order.
He also did not specify whether “Superintelligence” would cover all existing AI systems or only the most advanced models.
(IANS)
