Trump says he will ban the term "artificial intelligence" and use "super intelligence" instead

Compiled from reports by Reuters, HuffPost, Newsweek and IBTimes UK. See the original articles linked below.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, that his administration will officially ban the term "artificial intelligence", according to Reuters. The statement was made in a post on Truth Social.

What the post said

Reuters reported that Trump questioned why The Wall Street Journal does not use his preferred phrase, "super intelligence", or SI. Reuters wrote that he described "AI/Artificial Intelligence" as a very bad and inaccurate name and said the term would be banned in "all relevant documents". HuffPost, which also covered the post, said Trump complained that the newspaper kept using the standard terms. Reuters described its own report as brief and said it did not explain how or when a ban would be put into effect.

The earlier executive order

Newsweek reported that Trump signed an executive order in September directing executive agencies to make the switch in their communications. IBTimes UK gave the date of that order as September 29 and said it tells agencies to replace "artificial intelligence" and "AI" with "super intelligence" and "SI" wherever the law permits. According to IBTimes, the order leaves out existing regulations, contracts, grants and historical documents, and it gives the president's science and technology adviser 60 days to propose a federal definition.

Newsweek said the White House presented the change as a way to highlight the technology's potential and American leadership in the field. Newsweek also wrote that the change does not slow or restrict AI development and does not require private businesses, researchers, journalists or the public to stop using the term "AI".

Open questions about scope

IBTimes reported that Trump's reference to "everything else" in the post is unclear. HuffPost said it asked the White House what penalties might apply to people who use "AI" and had received no immediate reply. HuffPost added that Mediaite asked how a term could be banned given the First Amendment, and that the White House answered, "Refer to the truth."

Reaction

HuffPost reported that Geoffrey Hinton, the University of Toronto computer scientist often called a godfather of AI, told The Guardian that Trump understands almost nothing about AI. According to HuffPost, Hinton said "superintelligence" already has a clear meaning, which is intelligence greater than that of people. HuffPost also quoted Darrell West of the Brookings Institution as saying the word sounds like a reference to the film The Terminator and that changing it is unlikely to reassure anyone.

IBTimes UK wrote that critics questioned the cost and purpose of the change, with some contrasting it with issues such as healthcare and grocery prices. It said others doubted that an official preference could alter everyday speech and compared the situation to people who still call X by the name Twitter.

Terminology background

Newsweek explained that "artificial intelligence" is a broad label for systems that perform tasks associated with human intelligence, while "superintelligence" usually refers to a hypothetical form of AI that surpasses humans across many areas. It also compared the episode with a 2017 dispute in which CDC officials were reportedly advised to avoid seven terms; Newsweek noted that CDC officials disputed that those words were formally banned.

Sources

This article was compiled with AI assistance from the reports listed above and reviewed by GMA before publishing.