Trump Says Xi Endorsed 'Super Intelligence' Label for AI at Summit
The terminological preference, shared on Truth Social, carries no binding policy weight but signals how the administration may frame AI in future diplomatic and domestic communications.
President Donald Trump stated on Truth Social on Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping responded favorably to Trump's proposed rebranding of "Artificial Intelligence" as "Super Intelligence," abbreviated "SI," during their ongoing three-day summit. Trump wrote: "Very productive meeting with President Xi for both the U.S.A. And China. Tremendous things will be happening. Like almost everyone else, he seemed to like calling the poorly and inaccurately named Artificial Intelligence to a far more accurate and important name, SUPER INTELLIGENCE," according to the Washington Examiner. The post was published with one day remaining in the summit.
The summit between Trump and Xi marks Xi Jinping's second state visit to the United States. No joint communique or treaty text had been released publicly as of Friday, meaning the scope of any formal agreements reached during the three days remains unknown. The document that would clarify binding commitments would be an official joint statement, if one is issued by either government.
Trump's Truth Social post described the overall meeting as productive for both countries but did not specify which policy areas produced agreement. The reference to the AI terminology was the sole substantive detail contained in the public statement cited by the Washington Examiner.
The renaming proposal is not a legislative or regulatory action. No bill has been introduced in Congress to change official federal terminology from "artificial intelligence" to "super intelligence," and no executive order using the new label has been published in the Federal Register as of the date of this article. The current governing federal definition of "artificial intelligence" appears in 15 U.S.C. Section 9401, enacted as part of the National AI Initiative Act of 2020.
The White House has not released a transcript of the Trump-Xi meetings. It is therefore unknown what specific AI policy topics, if any, were discussed substantively, including questions of export controls, semiconductor supply chains, or AI safety frameworks. Those details, if recorded, would appear in any declassified memoranda of conversation or official readouts published by the White House press office.
The summit occurs against a backdrop of ongoing U.S.-China trade and technology tensions. The Biden administration expanded chip export restrictions targeting China in October 2022 and October 2023, and the Trump administration has continued to administer those controls through the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security. No change to those controls was announced in connection with this summit as of Friday.
On the domestic policy side, the administration's use of the term "Super Intelligence" in a bilateral diplomatic context could foreshadow its appearance in future White House AI policy documents, budget proposals, or executive communications. Whether federal agencies would adopt the terminology in official guidance is unknown. Agency-level terminology changes typically flow from Office of Management and Budget circulars or updated statutory definitions.
Congress has not acted on any proposal to revise the statutory definition of artificial intelligence since the National AI Initiative Act was signed into law in January 2021. Several AI-related bills were introduced in the 119th Congress, including the CREATE AI Act, but none of the public bill texts reviewed for this article address terminology changes of the kind Trump described.
Xi's reported comment, as characterized by Trump, does not constitute a Chinese government policy position. Official statements from Beijing's Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Xinhua News Agency would be the authoritative source for China's formal characterization of any summit outcomes. No such statement using the term "Super Intelligence" had been identified in those sources as of publication.
This summit follows earlier U.S.-China diplomatic engagement on AI governance. As covered previously by The Congressional Times, Xi Calls for US-China Cooperation on AI Governance at Trump Summit reported that Xi had called for joint governance frameworks during the summit's earlier sessions. Whether the terminology discussion is connected to those governance talks is not established by the available public record.
What remains unknown: the full agenda and outcomes of the three-day summit, whether any executive orders or agency directives will adopt the "Super Intelligence" label, and whether a joint U.S.-China statement will be issued. A White House press office readout or joint communique, if published, would be the primary document to resolve those questions.