AI
Trump Left Bessent at Treasury and Renamed Artificial Intelligence to Super Intelligence, and the Czar Search Moves On
Washington just started calling artificial intelligence by a new official name. At the UN General Assembly this week, President Donald Trump said he would direct the administration to rename artificial intelligence to 'super intelligence' in all official government documents. He arrived at the term after posting public polls with options like 'superior intelligence,' 'extreme intelligence,' and 'supreme intelligence,' and he settled on 'super intelligence' because it conveys power. In his view, 'artificial intelligence' makes the technology sound fake.
The rename is the branding layer on a bigger policy push. On September 19, Trump announced on Truth Social that he is forming an 'AI Force,' modeled on the Space Force from his first term, and that he will appoint an AI czar to lead it. The hiring note carried his signature showmanship. 'Only High I.Q. individuals need apply.' He framed the technology as the next industrial revolution, possibly worth as much as 25 percent of the country's GDP, and he tied the project directly to staying ahead of China.
On Friday the czar search got its first concrete answer. Trump confirmed on Truth Social that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is staying put at Treasury, addressing a Semafor report that had listed Bessent as a top contender for the czar role. Bessent is doing strong work at Treasury, and that is where the president wants to keep him. Other contenders named in the reporting include White House science and technology policy director Michael Kratsios and personnel management director Scott Kupor. David Sacks held the AI and crypto czar role until March, and both Sacks and Kratsios now cochair the president's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Kratsios told Fox News Sunday that the AI Force would coordinate the agencies already working on AI, which suggests the unit is less a new bureaucracy and more a command post for the pieces Washington already has. Trump has been vocal that Washington should accelerate the industry, arguing the country is leading China and the rest of the world and intends to keep it that way. He also noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping, in Washington this week for a three day summit, prefers the 'super intelligence' term himself.
Whatever one thinks of the branding, the signal to builders is unmistakable. The federal government is treating AI as a moonshot scale priority with cabinet level visibility. A named czar, a coordinated force, and an official vocabulary all point the same direction. For readers building in AI, the takeaway is practical. Washington is organizing itself to accelerate the industry, and the companies and developers positioned at the frontier stand to benefit from a government positioning itself as their champion.
Quick answers
What is this story about?
Washington just started calling artificial intelligence by a new official name. At the UN General Assembly this week, President Donald Trump said he would direct the administration to rename artificial intelligence to 'super intelligence' in all official government documents. He arrived at the term after posting public polls with options like 'superior intelligence,' 'extreme intelligence,' and 'supreme intelligence,' and he settled on 'super intelligence' because it conveys power. In his view, 'artificial intelligence' makes the technology sound fake.
Why does this story matter?
Whatever one thinks of the branding, the signal to builders is unmistakable. The federal government is treating AI as a moonshot scale priority with cabinet level visibility. A named czar, a coordinated force, and an official vocabulary all point the same direction. For readers building in AI, the takeaway is practical. Washington is organizing itself to accelerate the industry, and the companies and developers positioned at the frontier stand to benefit from a government positioning itself as their champion.
Sources
- Washington Examiner on the Bessent decision and the super intelligence rename
- Wall Street Journal on the AI Force announcement
- AnewZ on the AI Force and czar plan
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