Trump Asks Americans to Pick a New Name for AI: Superior, Extreme or Supreme Intelligence

President Donald Trump wants Americans to settle a question that has followed the technology boom of his second term from the start: what should artificial intelligence be called? In a Truth Social post on Saturday, the president asked the public to choose between Superior Intelligence, Extreme Intelligence and Supreme Intelligence, arguing that the standard term is both inaccurate and unimpressive. The vote is open to anyone on his platform, and it lands as Washington works out how much of the AI build-out the federal government should steer.

The question sounds like branding, but it carries weight. The words leaders use to describe a technology shape how the public, investors and foreign competitors treat it, and Trump has spent months arguing that the United States should treat AI as the engine of its next economic expansion rather than a threat to be slowed.

Trump Says Artificial Intelligence Is Inaccurate and Ineloquent

Trump opened the discussion with a direct appeal to his followers, writing that the familiar phrase does not capture what the technology actually does. He offered three replacements and asked for a vote.

"Many people think that the words 'Artificial Intelligence' are inaccurate, and very ineloquent, relative to AI, or Artificial Intelligence," Trump wrote. "A far more elegant and accurate description of this new phenomena would be Superior Intelligence (SI) or, Extreme Intelligence (EI) or, Supreme Intelligence (SI). This is a Poll, and I would appreciate everybody voting! Which is the best name for this ever growing 'Revolution?'"

The wording echoes the language he has used all year. Trump has described AI as a revolution that will redraw the American economy, and he has repeatedly told audiences that the country cannot afford to fall behind on the technology. The phrasing in his post places the emphasis on capability rather than machinery, a shift that supporters say better reflects what these systems can do.

Superior, Extreme or Supreme: The Three Names on the Table

Each of the three options keeps the word "intelligence" and swaps out "artificial." That choice gives the technology a more flattering frame, but it also creates a practical wrinkle: Superior Intelligence and Supreme Intelligence share the same initials, so the shorthand SI would be ambiguous unless one was dropped or altered.

The current term has deep roots. The phrase "artificial intelligence" was coined in 1955 by Stanford professor John McCarthy, who described it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines." Seventy years later it is embedded in the vocabulary of regulators, universities, defense contractors and the companies building the largest computing campuses in American history.

How a new name would be applied across an entire industry remains an open question. Federal agencies, researchers and technology firms rely on a stack of related terms, including machine learning, large language models and generative AI, and none of those labels depend on the words in the broader category. A presidential preference does not by itself rewrite contracts, research papers or product names.

What it can do is set the tone. Trump's framing treats the technology as an American achievement to be defended, and the three options he floated all imply superiority rather than imitation, a contrast he has drawn repeatedly against foreign rivals.

An AI Force, an AI Czar and a Defense of the Data Center Boom

The vote was only the first part of Trump's Saturday message. In a follow-up post, he challenged the political attacks aimed at the industry, listing a series of past controversies he described as hoaxes and arguing that the campaign against AI is the latest version of the same playbook.

"It all began with an attack on our Data Centers, until people realized how wealthy and prestigious they were for the Communities in which they were built," Trump wrote. "Higher Salaries, Lower Taxes, and Safer Streets, was the result, and the crazed Data Center attack has largely failed." He added: "We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry. Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!"

The president also announced a new organizational step, saying he is forming "the AI Force, much like I did Space Force," and that he will name an AI "Czar" in the near future, with a pointed caveat: "Only High I.Q. individuals need apply!" He predicted that AI could eventually account for as much as 25 percent of the country's economic output and closed with a promise about the global race.

The posture is consistent with the message Trump has delivered since the campaign. He dismissed doomsday warnings about the technology as a hoax during a Washington AI event where he phoned Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang onstage, and he has argued that the United States must lead rather than slow down. Industry leaders have pressed the same case, warning that restrictive rules in Europe and parts of Asia are already steering capital toward American projects.

What to Watch as the Vote Unfolds

The vote itself carries no legal weight. No regulation, executive order or agency guidance depends on the outcome, and the poll on Truth Social is an informal exercise that anyone with an account can join. Its value is in the signal it sends about how the president intends to talk about the industry heading into the midterm stretch of his second term.

Two developments matter more than the name. The first is the AI Czar announcement, which will put a face on the administration's effort to coordinate policy across agencies that have moved at different speeds. The second is the AI Force, a structure that could grow into a formal office with staff, a budget line and a mandate that outlasts the current news cycle.

Companies will be watching for signals about procurement, permitting and the rules that govern how computing capacity gets built. Governors and mayors, meanwhile, will keep pressing for the tax base and construction jobs that come with new facilities, a dynamic that has already turned data centers into a live issue in several state races.

For now, the administration's message is simple. Trump wants the country thinking about what these systems can do, and he is willing to put the question of what to call them directly to the public. Whatever label wins, the push behind it is not slowing down.