President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday directing the federal government to retire the term "artificial intelligence," rebranding the technology as "Super Intelligence" across official policy websites, policy documents, and press releases. The signing took place at a White House event where the leaders of the country's largest AI companies also signed a voluntary safety accord that Trump described as "morally binding."
The rebrand, which Trump first floated in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last week, means executive branch officials are expected to refer only to "Super Intelligence" in relevant settings going forward. According to the latest AI developments tracked by policy reporters, agencies will not be required to rewrite past regulations or documents, but the shift could still reshape how the technology is defined and discussed across the federal government.
What the Executive Order Does
Under the order, US government policy websites, policy documents, and press releases will refer to the technology only as "Super Intelligence," and officials will be expected not to acknowledge the terms "artificial intelligence" or "AI" in relevant settings. "Superintelligence" has long been used in the industry as a label for particularly powerful AI systems, but the administration is now seeking to use it as a replacement for the broader statutory definition of AI.
"The word super is the best word of all, and it's the simplest," Trump said at an event announcing the launch of America.gov, a new AI-powered government website. He added that Chinese President Xi Jinping, who visited the White House last week, "loves it" too.
"We don't want to hear artificial. Because it's not artificial. It's very powerful, it's very brilliant. It's going to mostly be put to good use and we'll stop the bad use," Trump said, comparing the word "artificial" to what he called "fake news."
The White House Luncheon
The executive order was signed after a luncheon Trump hosted at the White House with tech CEOs and government officials. In brief public remarks afterward — flanked by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk — Trump called the lunch "very productive" and "extremely friendly," according to The Verge.
"There's a belief that there should be tremendous self-regulation," Trump said. "And we automatically have regulation with the Department of Justice, the FBI, all of that." On data centers, the subject of intense local opposition across the country, Trump said companies would "work to make the community happy" by providing resources and economic support, predicting that "data centers are going to be very popular."
A 'Morally Binding' CEO Accord
Alongside the executive order, the White House released the text of a voluntary accord — titled the "White House Accord on Super Intelligence: Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities" — signed by Trump along with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, according to the New York Post, which published the full text.
Trump called the document "a form of protection" and said it "really is a form of... morally binding" commitment, likening it to a "constitution" for safe AI development. The accord commits each signatory company to four layers of controls and audits:
1. Internal controls to monitor the capabilities and alignment of models during training and deployment around cybersecurity, biosecurity, and chemical threats — and to ensure models "do not hack or access technical systems in unintended ways."
2. An empowered internal team to verify that controls, monitoring, and detection are operating as intended and that issues are remediated.
3. An independent external auditor to carry out independent assessments of whether those controls work.
4. An independent board committee to oversee the teams and auditors and ensure identified issues are fixed.
The companies also commit to meeting regularly to establish safety standards and best practices. Notably, the accord's text acknowledges that "over time, it may make sense to codify these steps into laws or regulations."
Critics Call the Deal Vague
Reporting on the accord was skeptical. The Guardian described it as a "vague 'morally binding' AI deal" centered on "tremendous self-policing," while the New York Times reported that Trump asked Meta, OpenAI, and Microsoft to make safety decisions themselves. Roll Call noted that Congress continued its back-seat role as AI executives were feted at the White House, and advocacy groups have long argued that voluntary commitments lack enforcement mechanisms.
The accord contains no penalties for non-compliance, and its commitments largely mirror safety practices — internal evaluations, third-party audits, and board oversight — that several frontier labs already claim to follow. What remains unclear is how the framework interacts with state-level AI laws that have imposed binding obligations on AI developers, several of which are currently being challenged in court.
What Happens Next
The executive order takes effect immediately for federal communications, though agencies have latitude in implementation since past documents do not need to be revised. The America.gov website, which administration officials said draws on Google's Gemini and xAI's Grok models according to CNBC, represents the most visible application of the rebrand.
For the AI industry, the White House event marks a striking turn: the same companies facing lawsuits, state injunctions, and legislative scrutiny over rogue AI agents were, this week, invited to co-author the terms of their own oversight. Whether the "morally binding" framing carries any practical weight will likely depend on whether the accord's signatories follow through — and whether lawmakers decide self-policing is enough.
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