US President Donald Trump speaks with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the White House driveway after a luncheon with technology leaders in the East Room on September 29, 2026 in Washington, DC, USA.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
A month after President Donald Trump ordered the term “superintelligence” to refer to artificial intelligence within executive branch agencies, his powerful tech allies Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg followed suit in their earnings calls. Their fellow tech CEOs were less enthusiastic about doing the same.
Trump’s declaration was made on September 29th while hosting an AI luncheon for industry leaders at the White House. At the time, he was working to ensure the growth of AI in the United States with limited regulation. The president announced this week on Truth Social that he would ban the use of AI or artificial intelligence in “all relevant documents” and “everything else.”
space x and tesla After Musk changed the name of his rocket company’s AI division to SpaceXSI in early October, he granted Trump’s wishes during an earnings call last week. “Some of it looks very impressive, but it doesn’t actually use any advanced AI or SI,” Musk said on a call with Tesla of his work on humanoid robots.
Mr. Zuckerberg followed suit during Meta’s October 21 earnings call, emphasizing his company’s “goal to provide personal superintelligence to everyone.” However, Meta is already using the term and last year established a unit called the Meta Superintelligence Lab.
Mr. Musk and Mr. Zuckerberg are perhaps the most ardent supporters of the Trump administration among tech CEOs, but they are by no means outliers. Big tech leaders helped plan President Trump’s inauguration and White House banquet halls, and some are intentionally trying to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs that the president opposed.
But at least for now, they’re holding out on abolishing the term AI.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy peppered his Thursday conference call with the use of AI, saying the acronym well over a dozen times in his opening remarks. The day before, microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said one of the company’s three focuses is “designing AI to empower people.” and alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said within seconds of commenting on the quarterly results that the search giant’s “AI investments are driving increased usage and overall user growth.”
President Trump’s rebranding effort comes just ahead of next week’s midterm elections, with Republicans in danger of losing their majorities in both the House and Senate. According to the latest CNBC National Economic Survey released last week, President Trump’s job approval ratings are declining and his economic approval ratings just hit an all-time low.
“Real world results”
This is not to suggest that tech executives fixated on “AI” are openly defying the president during their earnings calls this week. President Trump’s preferred terminology is making its way into other communications and documents. Microsoft’s annual report filed last week included eight references to superintelligence, starting with a letter to shareholders.
“For Microsoft, the central question as we enter this era of superintelligence is not just how great the opportunity will be, but how we will deliver the real-world outcomes that all countries, communities, and businesses demand and deserve,” Nadella wrote.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna didn’t attend Trump’s September lunch, but he used SI alongside AI during last week’s earnings call. “Technology innovations in both hybrid infrastructure and superintelligence are leading to improved performance,” Krishna said, adding that IBM is moving forward as a “software-driven hybrid cloud and AI platform company.”
Lip Buu Tan, chipmaker CEO intelsaid Thursday that the supply shortage facing the chip industry is “driven by unprecedented demand for superintelligence.”
Some in the tech industry are making clear their support for President Trump’s terminology ahead of next month’s earnings report.
palo alto networks CEO Nikesh Arora repeatedly mentioned SI on CNBC, and on September 30, he posted on X that “the SI meeting at WH was a great moment.”
after that, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang runs the chipmaker that is the world’s most valuable company and has been responsible for much of the AI boom. Along with Musk and Zuckerberg, Hwang has been one of Trump’s most vocal supporters in the technology industry and one of the president’s biggest allies in the debate over the safety of AI.
Like Arora, Huang praised the “White House agreement on superintelligence” to X after last month’s AI conference.
“Superintelligence offers an incredible opportunity to advance discovery, productivity, security, health, and prosperity,” Huang wrote. “The future of superintelligence will be shaped not just by what it can do, but by the confidence it gains.”
Watch: Altimeter’s Brad Gerstner talks about AI
