US President Donald Trump has rejected calls for international regulation of artificial intelligence, arguing that the United States will not support efforts to place the technology under global supervision.
Trump made the remarks on Tuesday while addressing world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he also announced that US government documents would begin using the term “super intelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence.”
Trump said the US “totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control” artificial intelligence, making clear his opposition to international efforts aimed at regulating the rapidly developing technology.
He argued that the technology should continue to develop while acknowledging that it comes with challenges that require attention.
Trump also said the word “artificial” made the technology sound less real than it is and announced a change in how his administration would refer to it.
“Hereinafter officially called superintelligence, changing the name, and that the use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake. It makes it sound fake. And it is not fake; it’s actually amazing, but we have to be careful,” he said.
Trump added that US government documents would henceforth use “Superintelligence” and expressed hope that other countries would eventually adopt the terminology.
“From this point forward, all of United States documents, and hopefully the world’s, will be changed to use the much more accurate term Super as opposed to Artificial,” he said.
He described the technology as potentially more transformative than previous major technological developments and said his administration would not deliberately slow its growth.
“I’m not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution,” Trump said.
At the same time, Trump said US authorities would monitor the technology and could take action where necessary. He pointed to the Department of Justice and other law-enforcement agencies as mechanisms that could intervene if problems emerged.
The president’s position contrasts with calls from some governments, international organisations and technology leaders for greater cooperation on AI safety and oversight. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has previously called for international coordination to ensure AI develops safely and transparently.
Trump’s comments come as governments around the world continue debating how to balance rapid AI development with concerns about safety, security and potential misuse.
