Trump Renames AI 'Super Intelligence,' Says Old Safety Doubts No Longer Apply
After dining with Big Tech executives, Trump told reporters his past dismissal of AI safety fears as a Democratic 'hoax' is obsolete because the technology now goes by a new name.
President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that his earlier characterization of AI safety fears as a Democratic "hoax" no longer holds, because he has rebranded the technology as "Super Intelligence." The remarks came after he hosted a meal with major technology executives at the White House, where AI policy was on the agenda. Trump's comments suggest the administration sees the name change as a substantive shift rather than a cosmetic one, a framing that drew immediate pushback from researchers and former officials.
The president first used the "hoax" label during his 2024 campaign, arguing that warnings about existential risk from artificial intelligence were a partisan talking point designed to justify regulation. Since taking office, however, he has presided over a wave of AI-related announcements, including executive orders aimed at speeding federal permitting for data centers and loosening restrictions on model development. Tuesday's remarks appear to mark the first time he has publicly walked back the hoax claim, though he attached the reversal to nomenclature rather than to any new evidence about model behavior.
The rebranding to "Super Intelligence" is not a technical term. Researchers generally use "artificial general intelligence" or "superintelligence" to describe hypothetical systems that exceed human capability across most domains, and the two are not interchangeable. Trump's phrasing collapses that distinction, and it is unclear whether the White House intends to codify the term in forthcoming guidance or legislation. An administration official, speaking on background, declined to say whether the label change reflects a shift in policy or is simply messaging.
AI leaders who attended the dinner offered measured reactions. Several executives have spent the past year lobbying against state-level safety mandates while publicly endorsing light-touch federal rules, a position that aligns with the president's deregulatory posture. Others have warned privately that mixing safety language with branding risks confusing the public and complicating international coordination, particularly as the European Union continues to phase in its AI Act. No company has issued a formal statement on the president's remarks.
The episode matters because it signals how the White House may frame AI oversight going forward: less as risk management and more as a national competitiveness project. If the "Super Intelligence" label sticks, it could shape how agencies write rules, how Congress drafts bills, and how the public understands what is actually being built. The open question is whether the administration will pair the new vocabulary with concrete safety benchmarks, or whether the rename is the policy.