President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday directing executive branch departments and agencies to use “super intelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence” or “AI” in official correspondence, public communications, policy and other documents. The order followed a White House meeting where Trump and six technology executives signed an accord he called “morally binding.”
The accord doesn’t declare that the technology’s name has officially changed. It uses Trump’s preferred wording in its title, “White House Accord on Super Intelligence: A Joint Commitment on Frontier SI Responsibilities.” The executive order, titled “Inaugurating The Era Of Super Intelligence,” sets the terminology for executive branch communications.
Who Sets the Terms
Trump said the executives’ document was “almost like a Constitution in a way,” and called it “a form of protection.” He said his administration was considering an oversight committee of “maybe 10 people” to “watch over the whole enterprise.” The White House didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for additional information about the document.
The two-page accord says each signatory company is responsible for developing its technology safely and in a way that builds trust. It calls for robust internal processes and controls to ensure technology behaves as intended, and recommends four additional layers of controls. The signatories agreed to meet regularly to establish safety standards. The document says that “over time, it may make sense to codify these steps into laws or regulations.”
Trump, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Jensen Huang of Nvidia signed the accord. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., attended Tuesday’s luncheon and described the document as a “statement of principles.” He said it contained “voluntary” industry commitments, “robust internal controls” and “layers of internal and external review.” “Safety and innovation are not mutually exclusive pursuits,” Johnson said.
Voluntary Commitments and Public Oversight
Outside the White House’s West Wing, Trump said, “We’ve changed the name officially today.” He added that the name had been changed “by the biggest, the smartest, the greatest people anywhere in the world.” The executive order directs federal departments and agencies to adopt the term in their communications; the accord itself makes no declaration that the name has changed.
Asked why people shouldn’t be concerned about AI and why the government shouldn’t mandate safety guardrails, Trump replied, “Because we have people that love our country and love the world a lot.” He has argued the United States doesn’t need new AI-specific regulations. At the United Nations General Assembly last week, he said he “rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control” AI, and he has dismissed warnings about the technology as a “hoax.”
Political Pressure and Industry Policy
Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized the response. “The companies building the most powerful AI systems are warning us that the technology is advancing faster than our safeguards. The president’s response? To rename it and tell the companies developing it to regulate themselves,” Warner said. “But changing what we call artificial intelligence does nothing to address the very real risks that come with increasingly powerful AI systems.”
A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday found that 25% of respondents approved of Trump’s handling of AI, while 58% disapproved. The survey was conducted Sept. 24 to Sept. 27 and had a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points. The approval figure was lower than Trump’s ratings on the Iran war, the economy and U.S.-China policy in the same poll. CNBC reported that recent polls showed majorities expressing fear and concern about AI and disapproval of Trump’s handling of the issue.
Trump shrugged when asked whether his support for AI and data centers could hurt Republicans in the upcoming midterm election, saying, “I just have to do what’s right.” Johnson said Republican incumbents agree the United States can’t lose its edge over China in the race for AI dominance. Governments worldwide have struggled to keep pace with AI advances, while leading companies have warned of risks to humanity and appealed for governments to work together to manage the technology.