Dueling Trump, Newsom executive orders spar over tech terminology

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday declaring the language of “artificial intelligence” to remain the same in his state, despite a previous executive order by President Donald Trump renaming the technology “super intelligence,” or “SI,” at the federal level.

Newsom’s executive order required all agencies and departments under his authority to refer to the technology as “artificial intelligence” and “AI,” regardless of any rebranding or divergent terminology used by the federal government. The order said that changing something's name, like going from AI to SI, would not distract people from recognizing the safety risks of AI.

What did Trump’s executive order say? Trump renamed artificial intelligence as super intelligence for the executive branch on Tuesday. This meant executive departments and agencies were required to use the term super intelligence for official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents, and other non-statutory documents within the executive branch. The order said that the new language reflected the transformative capabilities of these technologies and the limitless opportunities they created for the American people.

One day after Trump’s executive order, Newsom announced his executive order in a social media post, saying “You’re welcome, America,” despite his order only being effective within California.