Trump super intelligence rename: Where South Africa stands

The Trump super intelligence rename came at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, when President Donald Trump said the US government would call artificial intelligence “super intelligence”.*

According to AFP, Trump told the Assembly that the word “artificial” undersold the technology and voiced hope that the rest of the world would adopt the new term.

The announcement came as leaders at the Assembly disagreed over how to address its dangers.

What did the Trump super intelligence announcement say?

Trump used his speech to reject international control of the technology and to set out the new name. The White House published the remarks the same day, and its transcript of the passage on artificial intelligence read:

“The United States totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme of control for the Artificial Intelligence being spoken of so much now, hereinafter officially called ‘Super Intelligence.'”

Trump said the name “sounds much better” and “it’s much more accurate”. He added: “Every major new technology brings challenges, and superintelligence is no exception.”

He then compared AI safety warnings with earlier predictions about global warming, saying:

“The very same people who said we’ll all be dead in 12 years because of global warming… are now saying that AI is going to kill us all, that robots are going to attack us, and that everything is going to be a total disaster.”

How have other leaders responded to Trump super intelligence?

The term Trump chose already has a defined place in AI research, where superintelligence refers to a hypothetical system whose abilities would exceed those of humans across a wide range of areas, rather than the tools in use at present.

Ahead of the Assembly, the leaders of more than 20 mostly European countries urged binding safety measures for advanced AI, and China and the United States did not endorse it.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres asked the two powers to open a dialogue on the technology’s future:

“Governments with the greatest AI capabilities have the greatest responsibilities to humanity, to establish channels for dialogue.”

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Britain would use its 2027 G20 presidency to push for “a single set of global principles and standards” on AI, and announced an AI defence partnership with Washington to detect cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.

Where does South Africa stand on AI rules?

South Africa addressed the General Debate on Thursday, 24 September 2026, two days after Trump’s speech. International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola did not refer to the rename in the statement, but he raised AI governance:

“We insist, Mr President, that indeed Africa must have a stake in shaping the rules that govern the development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence.”

South Africa’s own AI rules are still unfinished. Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi withdrew the draft national AI policy after fictitious references were found, calling the lapse a “massive oversight”. Jeanette Morwane, acting deputy director-general at the department, said on 26 May 2026 that the revised policy was due at Cabinet by November 2026, with public comment targeted for January 2027.