Trump labels users of term 'artificial intelligence' as enemies

By Splitfeed EditorialLast updated Oct 9, 2026, 14:30 UTC

On or around October 7 and 8, 2026, President Donald Trump declared that anyone using the term 'artificial intelligence' rather than 'super intelligence' is 'the enemy,' a phrase he directed at opponents of the White House. The statement came after Trump met with three tech leaders, and he also announced the formation of a group he named the 'Super Intelligence Force.' Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly criticised the directive, marking a visible break with Trump from within his own political coalition. Adding a concrete contradiction to the episode, the official White House AI website, AI.gov, continued to use the term 'artificial intelligence' even after Trump made his remarks.

The story matters beyond its surface oddity because it sits at the intersection of federal tech policy and political branding. The Verge placed Trump's push in a broader pattern, noting his history of using language to reward allies and stigmatise opponents, pointing to past examples like 'Little Marco' and 'Crooked Hillary.' If the administration pursues 'super intelligence' as official terminology in policy documents, procurement language or regulatory guidance, the rename could carry practical consequences for how agencies, contractors and researchers communicate about the technology. The internal inconsistency, with AI.gov maintaining the old term, raises an immediate question about how seriously the directive is being enforced even within the executive branch.

The anti-AI camp, as represented by the reactions available, focused less on the substance of AI development and more on the authoritarian undertone of the moment. Karly Kingsley, posting on Bluesky, quoted Trump from October 7 as saying 'I can do whatever I want, when I want,' framing the renaming episode as one more example of unchecked executive assertion rather than a genuine tech policy debate. The pro-AI and middle ground camps have not yet posted reactions to this specific story. Typically, the pro-AI camp would be expected to treat the renaming as largely cosmetic and defend the administration's broader intent to lead on advanced AI development, while the middle ground camp would likely focus on the policy confusion the contradiction between Trump's statement and AI.gov's continued usage creates.

The clearest thing to watch is whether AI.gov and other official federal documents are updated to replace 'artificial intelligence' with 'super intelligence,' and whether any formal executive order or guidance formalises the change. A directive with legal or regulatory weight would transform what currently looks like a rhetorical flourish into something with measurable consequences for the field.