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Trump’s “Super Intelligence” Rebrand and the Bigger AI Political War
Forget artificial intelligence. Apparently, it gave off the wrong vibes.
On September 22, President Donald Trump stood before the United Nations General Assembly and declared that the United States would officially retire the term “artificial intelligence.”
The replacement? Super Intelligence.
Why? Trump says “artificial” makes it sound fake. “It is not fake — it’s actually amazing,” he explained.
Good thing we cleared that up. I’m sure thousands of computer scientists just stared at their ceilings in total disbelief.
“Superintelligence” isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a highly specific technical term. Generally, superintelligence refers to a synthetic system with superior performance across all domains compared to humans. The kind of self-improving systems that give safety researchers nightmares, not the kind people use to send polite follow-up emails to clients.
As researchers Sayash Kapoor and Arvind Narayanan point out in AI as Normal Technology, today’s AI dramatically amplifies what humans can do. However, it doesn’t possess magical higher-order intelligence. He basically hijacked an industry safety term and branded standard software with it. It’s like declaring that all cars in New Jersey will now be called “supersonic jets” because the word “automobile” sounds too boring.
According to Pivot to AI, this rebrand was floated back in late 2025, with Trump testing out names like “Supreme Intelligence” on X before settling on “Super Intelligence.” Axios noted the White House didn’t clarify if using a technical term loosely was intentional — which is probably for the best.
The Real Fight Isn’t the Name; It’s the Rules
Despite its amusing nature, the branding circus distracts from a real war brewing between Washington and the states: Who regulates artificial intelligence?
The federal government wants one national rulebook. The states, however, aren’t waiting around.
Back in 2025, the House Republicans tried to snare a 10-year ban on state AI laws into the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The Senate killed it in a brutal 99-1 vote. Similar attempts were also fumbled in the defense bill for FY2026. In December 2025, Trump signed an executive order creating a DOJ task force with the purpose of challenging conflicting state laws-but executive orders aren’t magic wands, and federal preemption usually requires congressional action.
- Lawmakers across 45 states introduced over 1,500 AI-related bills.
- Texas rolled out its Responsible AI Governance Act on January 1.
- Colorado followed suit with its own AI Act in June.
- Even here in Trenton, lawmakers have weighed their own local guardrails.
The result is a compliance nightmare for small development shops and tech agencies. If you build an AI tool, suddenly you have to ask: What does California say? What about Texas? Colorado? New York? New Jersey? At that point, you aren’t paying developers — you’re paying a team of lawyers.
The White House pitched a National Policy Framework for AI to eliminate this patchwork, while the bipartisan Great American AI Act (introduced in June) tries to split the difference with national safety rules that overrule state laws. But with House Speaker Mike Johnson urging Congress not to “panic” about regulating, the bill remains stalled.
Follow the Money
Naturally, Silicon Valley isn’t waiting for anything to happen. MIT Technology Review reports that competing super PACs are dumping tens of millions into political races. Groups like Leading the Future (backed by OpenAI’s Greg Brockman and Andreessen Horowitz) are funding candidates who oppose heavy regulation, while AI safety groups are backing the opposite side.
Meanwhile, back in the Oval Office, we have a branding problem.
Hallucinations cannot be fixed by calling AI “superintelligence.” It doesn’t resolve copyright lawsuits, settle state preemption battles, or tell businesses how much liability they have when an LLM goes awry. It only pollutes legal definitions. If Congress passes AI legislation, courts will have to spend millions deciding whether lawmakers meant “today’s LLMs” or hypothetical supercomputers.
As Washington argues over the nickname of the most complex technology in history, it is trying to govern the most complex technology in human history. State legislators are writing their own rules, Silicon Valley wants no rules, and the president decided the biggest issue is that “artificial” hurts the technology’s feelings.
On Monday, Trump seemingly announced an accord agreement that was made between Google, Anthropic,
We’ve just entered the era of Super Intelligence: same algorithms, same regulatory chaos, just with “better” marketing.
