State Department Orders Diplomats to Say 'Super Intelligence'

The U.S. State Department has directed diplomats in its Bureau of International Organization Affairs to stop using the term "artificial intelligence" and replace it with "super intelligence" in all official communications, following President Donald Trump's announcement at the United Nations General Assembly this week.

Michael Drager, deputy assistant secretary of state for the bureau, sent an email to employees Tuesday instructing them to make the change immediately. "Following the president's remarks at the GA today, please change all references of 'Artificial Intelligence' to 'Super Intelligence' in our documents and positions," the memo stated, according to reporting by the Associated Press. The bureau oversees U.S. diplomatic missions to U.N. and multilateral agencies worldwide.

Trump's rationale for the rebrand

During his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump announced he would "officially" change the name of AI, arguing that the word "artificial" makes the technology sound inauthentic. "The use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake, it makes it sound fake and it is not fake. It's actually amazing," Trump told world leaders.

The president declared that U.S. government documents would from that point forward use "super intelligence" rather than artificial intelligence, calling it "the much more accurate term."

Implementation and scope unclear

While the State Department's international organizations bureau moved quickly to implement the change, it remains unclear whether other State Department divisions or federal agencies have received similar directives. The terminology shift would presumably affect the naming of Trump's recently announced "AI Force," which would become the "SI Force" under the new convention.

U.S. representatives began using the "SI" terminology at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday, where technology executives discussed the need for international oversight of the rapidly developing technology.

Why it matters

The terminology change comes as the U.S. competes with China for technological leadership and reflects Trump's broader approach to AI policy. The administration has resisted calls for increased government regulation of AI development, with Trump stating he does not want to "stifle Growth" of technology he believes will exceed the impact of the Industrial Revolution. The rebrand also introduces potential confusion in international diplomatic and technical discussions, where "artificial intelligence" remains the globally recognized standard term. AI is expected to be a central topic when Chinese leader Xi Jinping visits Washington starting Wednesday.

Trump claimed on social media Monday that the United States leads China in AI development and emphasized his priority of maintaining that advantage without regulatory constraints that could slow innovation.

The Associated Press first reported details of the internal State Department directive.