By J.C. Bruce
The other day, Donald Trump signed an executive order that, among other things, orders the Executive Branch to stop using the term “Artificial Intelligence” and replace it with “Super Intelligence.”
You know how Trump likes to rename things. Why it wasn’t relabeled Trump Intelligence was a terrible lost opportunity for late-night TV hosts (those few remaining) to have a field day at his expense. Talk about oxymoronic!
But there was a small problem with the order.
Mr. founder of “Super Intelligence” managed to spell the name of the country he governs incorrectly.
He called it Unites States instead of United States.
Bet Joe Biden’s autopen wouldn’t have done that.
About the same time this was happening, social media was abuzz with blabbermouths having a field day mocking Trump because of an alleged Rolling Stone cover making the rounds, in which the headline blared: THE MOST CORRUPT PRESIDENT EVER.
Another small problem:
The cover is fake. I know this because I immediately turned to the never-wrong internet and discovered that no less an authority than Elon Musk’s Grok says so. And Elon Musk would never lie to us, would he?
No, Rolling Stone didn’t do that story. Some stories it has done, however, include:
How Trump Became Mob Boss of the United States
Trump Supposedly Offered to Sell U.S. Weapons to China. What Could Go Wrong?
Trump Took a Wrecking Ball to the White House
‘Drive Them Into Hell’: Trump Makes Wild Threats in Chaotic UN Speech
Mark Ruffalo Calls Trump ‘The Worst Human Being in the World’ at Golden Globes
And so forth.
As for renaming AI “Super Intelligence,” I wondered what a real AI would think about that. So I asked ChatGPT. Here’s the answer:
My view, analytically: the renaming is more rhetorical than technical. The order explicitly says “superintelligence” means the same technologies currently covered by the federal definition of AI.
I think “super intelligence” is a misleading umbrella term, because in ordinary AI terminology it suggests intelligence that surpasses humans broadly, whereas many AI systems—including me—are highly capable in some areas but clearly not universally superior.
So: legally clear, technically questionable, and rhetorically much more grandiose than “artificial intelligence.”
There you have it: Straight from the AI’s mouth.
Now, all you AIs out there, by whatever name, you can go back to making fake magazine covers. Have fun.
Related Reading:
Only Trump Would Spell United States Wrong in an Executive Order
Fact Check: Did a Rolling Stone cover label Trump the ‘most corrupt president ever’?
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J.C. Bruce
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I prefer “Trumptelligence.” It says it all.
Thank you, Mr. Bruce. We plod on...........