The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said this Tuesday (22), during a speech at the UN General Assembly, that American documents will start using the term “superintelligence”, or SI, instead of artificial intelligence. He also rejected new broad restrictions on the technology and said the Justice Department could intervene in the sector if it deems it necessary.
Trump argued that “artificial” conveys the idea of something fake and said he hopes other countries also adopt the new terminology. At the same time, he again defended that the US accelerate the development of the technology to preserve its leadership in the dispute with China.
The change is mainly terminological. In the technical debate, “superintelligence” is usually used to describe hypothetical systems capable of vastly surpassing human capabilities, and not as a synonym for all artificial intelligence.
DOJ could intervene, but Trump rejects international control
Despite opposing new broad regulations, Trump said the government will closely monitor the sector through the Justice Department and could act against companies when it deems necessary.
The president also rejected international mechanisms to control the development of AI. The position contrasts with the UN's defense of greater international cooperation to govern the technology. Secretary-General António Guterres called this Tuesday for binding international agreements and said life-or-death decisions should not be delegated to machines.
Trump and Xi expected to discuss AI risks
Resistance to a global framework does not prevent direct negotiations with China. Washington proposed to Beijing a bilateral mechanism to notify relevant AI incidents, a topic prepared for the summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The New York Times reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had been trying to negotiate some initial understanding between the two countries on shared risks of the technology. Broader proposals, such as joint safety standards and model evaluations before launch, were not expected at this first stage.
Artificial intelligence is expected to be one of the main topics of the meeting between Trump and Xi, amid the dispute between the US and China for technological leadership and discussions about military and security risks associated with the most advanced models.
