Donald Trump Pushes To Ban The Term 'AI' In Government Documents, Here's Why

The United States President Donald Trump is planning to officially ban the phrase "artificial intelligence" and its abbreviation "AI" across government documents, pushing federal agencies to use the term "super intelligence" (or "SI") instead.

"When will The Wall Street Journal start calling Artificial Intelligence (AI), a very bad and inaccurate name, SI (Super Intelligence), the name which virtually everyone else is using, or soon will be," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"In short order, we will be officially BANNING the term, 'AI/Artificial Intelligence,' in all relevant documents, and everything else, due to its inaccuracy."

In a post, Trump criticised the label "AI" as inaccurate, arguing that "super intelligence" is a better description of the technology. The move builds on an executive order signed earlier, which instructed executive agencies to adopt "SI" in their official communications.

Also read | Downfall Of US Among 3 Chilling Predictions For 2028 By 'America's Nostradamus'

"The United States is the world leader in Super Intelligence, and the federal government should use a name that reflects the full promise and opportunities of this technology," White House spokesperson Liz Huston told Newsweek in an emailed statement.

"The name Super Intelligence reinforces the Administration's focus on advancing American innovation, strengthening our economy, and harnessing these cutting-edge technologies to improve the lives of the American people."

While the White House has instructed government agencies to drop the term, experts point out that a president cannot force private companies or citizens to change their language, the media outlet added.

According to the outlet, the researchers and policymakers have pushed back against the change, noting that "superintelligence" has a specific meaning in tech, referring to machines smarter than humans, which doesn't accurately describe today's technology.

Also read | Southwest Airlines Sued By Flight Attendant Over Severe Pet Allergy

Can Trump 'ban' words?

While the president has the authority to put a ban on a certain term, it depends on where and how a word is being used. The president definitely has authority over the executive branch and can direct how executive agencies communicate.

But this power has some limits, as according to the media outlet, such announcements and moves must align with federal statutes and constitutional requirements.

"The president has some, but not unlimited, control over the words the federal government itself uses in its official documents, but he has no legal or constitutional authority to police the language choices of the Wall Street Journal or any other private institution or person," Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and constitutional law expert, told Newsweek.

Executive order by White House

Last month, an order signed by Trump read, "The extraordinary technologies being pioneered by American innovators far exceed what was envisioned when the term "Artificial Intelligence" first came into use. The capabilities of today's frontier systems do much more than imitate or automate discrete aspects of human intelligence."

"They increasingly amplify human ingenuity and unlock new forms of creativity, empowering Americans to achieve what was previously impossible across science, medicine, and nearly every other domain of human endeavor."

"As these capabilities continue to improve, they increasingly represent not merely artificial intelligence, but a new era of Super Intelligence."

"The terminology used by the Federal Government should reflect the transformative capabilities of these technologies and the limitless opportunities they create for the American people," the order read.

"Accordingly, the term "Super Intelligence" more appropriately captures the promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities of these technologies."