Silicon Valley is falling in line with Trump’s attempt to rename AI
The term "superintelligence" already had a job before this rebrand. It described a hypothetical future system that surpasses human cognition across every domain, the kind of thing Nick Bostrom wrote a whole book about. Watching it get repurposed as a generic label for today's chatbots is a bit like calling your bicycle a spaceship because you're technically moving toward space. The people in Silicon Valley going along with this know the difference, which is what makes their compliance worth paying attention to.
Some of them probably genuinely believe the hype. The industry has spent two years selling the idea that current models are on a straight line to godhood, so adopting "super intelligence" is consistent with their own marketing. But the timing matters. This rebrand is happening because a president wants it, and tech leaders who need regulatory favors, government contracts, or just to avoid subpoenas have strong reasons to smile and nod. The language of AI is becoming a loyalty test.
I'd want to know which companies are actually using the term internally versus just not contradicting the president in public. There's a difference between adopting a term and tolerating it. My guess is the quiet majority still write "AI" in their memos and just don't make a fuss when the president says otherwise. That's the more interesting story, and it's the one that's harder to report.