Artificial intelligence will be called "super intelligence" if President Donald Trump gets his way, but marketing experts say the president might have a tougher time compared to his other rebranding efforts, like "Gulf of America" and "Lake America." The attempt at a rebrand comes as Trump has continued to push for AI development in the U.S. while some states have started to impose safeguards and industry leaders have started to issue warnings about the dangers of unchecked AI advancement. On Monday, Trump polled his Truth Social followers on if they preferred the term "super intelligence" or "superior intelligence." More than 50,000 people responded to the poll, with 65 percent of them saying they preferred super intelligence. Trump directed his focus to the name change several times this week, including when he spoke at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday and in several posts on Truth Social.
At his U.N. speech, Trump said the federal government would use the term "super intelligence" to refer to AI and stressed that he would not "stifle growth" of artificial intelligence, calling it "bigger than the Industrial Revolution." After his remarks, an email sent to federal employees from the State Department urged them to refer to artificial intelligence as super intelligence, or SI, in documents and positions going forward. Newsweek reached out to the White House by email for comment on Friday. Also this week, Trump spent three days with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a state visit to the White House.
Artificial intelligence remains a major competitive topic between the U.S. and China, but Trump said Xi seemed open to adopting the name change. "Very productive meeting with President Xi for both the U.S.A. and China," Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday morning. "Tremendous things will be happening.
Like almost everyone else, he seemed to like calling the poorly and inaccurately named Artificial Intelligence to a far more accurate and important name, SUPER INTELLIGENCE. That would be “SUPER!” Everyone last night agreed, also." And although his other recent rebranding attempts have been widely accepted across the U.S. government, Trump might face a harder time with "super intelligence" unless tech leaders get on board. "[I]t seems unlikely the re-branding will take off unless tech leaders adopt the term," The University of Chicago marketing professor Jean-Pierre Dubé told Newsweek.
"The problem is that the term “super intelligence” has a very specific meaning in the tech world: "any intellect that greatly exceeds the cognitive performance of humans in virtually all domains of interest." ... While many debate how soon AI will surpass human intelligence, it seems pre-mature to be using the new term “super intelligence.” This brand confusion seems like a major reason it’s unlikely to get adopted anytime soon." Dubé also suggested that the rebrand could backfire on Trump, as "super intelligence" might spark an even greater public distrust than artificial intelligence already does, "as the former refers to a technology we are unable to control … precisely the scenario about which AI conservatives and alarmists are warning." Boston University professor and dean emeritus Susan Fournier agreed. "Is super intelligence a better construct label to control these negative associations?
Fournier added that Trump chose the phrase possibly to imply "bigger and better and more amazing," a tactic he's used for "claiming power on the global stage" in other areas. "But this violates the tech industry definition of SI as an existential threat where AI bypasses human control," Fournier said. "For those in the know this is a concept that heightens scifi fears and makes safety regulation harder to imagine." And despite Trump's wish that the federal government adopt the phrase, Fournier thinks the tech industry will reject it.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
