The United States government has officially rebranded artificial intelligence (AI) as 'Super Intelligence' (SI) through an executive order, a move that has seen immediate compliance from several major tech industry leaders.
The policy, outlined in a White House document, states that "The term 'Super Intelligence' more appropriately captures the promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities of these technologies." The order mandates that the executive branch will use 'Super Intelligence' and 'SI' in place of 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI' wherever legally permissible.
Following this directive, a White House Accord on Super Intelligence was signed by executives from prominent technology companies, including Sundar Pichai of Google, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Greg Brockman of OpenAI, Elon Musk of XAI, and Jensen Huang of Nvidia. The accord emphasizes the responsibility of companies developing these technologies to do so safely and build public trust, advocating for regular meetings among participating companies to establish standards and best practices.
Elon Musk publicly endorsed the rebranding on his X platform, though he reverted to using the term 'AI' in a subsequent post. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also adopted the new terminology in his own statements. Sundar Pichai of Google, who previously acquiesced to renaming geographical locations on Google Maps for US users, also praised the administration and used the term 'super intelligence.' Mark Zuckerberg similarly stated on Facebook that "superintelligence will create significant new opportunities for all people and businesses."
Despite the official rebranding and the tech leaders' initial compliance, the practical impact of the name change remains uncertain, with critics noting that the broader public and many media outlets continue to use the original term 'AI.'
More significant concerns have been raised regarding the self-regulatory nature of the White House Accord. The document places the onus on participating companies to develop and improve the safety of their systems without explicit mention of government oversight or regulation. This approach contrasts with the views of some industry figures.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates expressed skepticism about the tech industry's ability to self-regulate AI development. Speaking with The New York Times, Gates stated, "It’s just insane," highlighting a perceived low awareness of AI dangers among the public, academia, think tanks, policymakers, and politicians. He emphasized that reliance on industry self-regulation is not a viable solution.