President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday renaming artificial intelligence to “super intelligence” in an effort to rebrand the technology amid calls to rein in its development. Trump has repeatedly characterized whistleblowers’ warnings of insufficient oversight of AI companies as overblown and a “hoax.”

The executive order said that the term “super intelligence” better captures the capabilities of the rapidly developing technology, which does “much more than imitate or automate discrete aspects of human intelligence.”

“As these capabilities continue to improve, they increasingly represent not merely artificial intelligence, but a new era of Super Intelligence,” the order said. “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.”

“It’s not artificial, we all agree on that,” Trump said to reporters Tuesday.

In the AI space, the term “super intelligence” already refers to a specific kind of AI that exceeds the cognitive capabilities of humans in virtually all aspects of thinking. Superintelligent AI has not yet been achieved.

The executive order requires all federal agencies to use the new term, or “SI,” when referring to the technology in public communications, websites, reports and policy documents. Michael Kratsios, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, will also determine whether an official definition of the new term should be modified or expanded, according to the order.

The rebranding comes a week after the president began using the new term at the U.N. General Assembly, pushing back against calls for greater regulation of the industry. He assured world leaders that tech executives would erect the appropriate guardrails on their models — despite mounting concerns relating to AI replacing jobs and instances of rogue agents accessing government websites or initiating cyberattacks.

Tech executives signed a “morally binding” constitution on AI on Tuesday at the White House. The constitution instructs companies to partner with an independent external auditor to assess that models are “operating as intended” and implement internal controls — monitored by a team that would itself be overseen by an independent committee of the board — to ensure that models do not hack systems. Trump has reiterated he would not slow down AI growth and that maintaining American dominance over the technology was a national security concern.

-Politico

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