On a crowded stage shared by the leaders who build the world's artificial intelligence, a president reached for a grander name for their work and tossed a teasing jab at one of them. The moment, reported by Business Today, shows how quickly the language of a fast-moving technology gets shaped by whoever is speaking loudest in the room. A term that philosophers once used for machines that outthink humanity has now been borrowed for a press gathering, and the meaning of that borrowing remains open. Whether the phrase settles into policy or fades as a passing flourish is a question only the comin
Trump Calls Pichai a 'Monster' and Rebrands AI as 'Super Intelligence' at Tech Leaders Gathering
"Hopefully a better tagline than I'm a monster!"
Mark
So what actually happened in that room? A joke, or something more?
Mimi
Mostly a joke. Trump cut off Pichai mid-introduction and called him a monster nobody knows, and Pichai laughed it off with a line about wanting a better tagline.
Mark
And the bigger point was the renaming?
Mimi
Yes. Trump said "artificial intelligence" has become "super intelligence," and that it's bigger than the internet and the industrial revolution.
Luke
Worth noting he attributed that to others. He said "they're saying." We don't know who, and the report doesn't say.
Mark
Did Trump invent the term?
Mimi
No. Nick Bostrom's definition is the standard one: machines surpassing human cognitive abilities across domains.
Luke
Which is a much stronger claim than what most AI products do today. The report doesn't show anyone in the room agreeing that we've arrived there.
Mark
Who was there?
Mimi
Musk, Amodei, Brockman, Huang, Zuckerberg and Pichai.
Luke
Laughing at a joke isn't endorsing the rebrand, though. Nothing here shows what any of them think of the new label.
Mark
Any policy attached?
Mimi
Only a general remark that the country could benefit from next-generation computing and AI.
Luke
No program, no figure, no date. So far it's rhetoric.
Der Puls
- A president cut in on Google's Sundar Pichai mid-sentence, turning a gathering of AI titans into a moment of public teasing.
- Trump's line that Pichai is a 'monster' nobody knows drew online pushback, with critics noting Pichai's large public following.
- Trump rebranded 'artificial intelligence' as 'super intelligence,' claiming it outstrips the industrial revolution and the internet.
- The term 'super intelligence' belongs to philosopher Nick Bostrom and describes machines surpassing human minds, a far more extreme idea than the label most products use.
- Observers are now watching whether the new wording slips into federal AI policy or investment talk, or stays a one-off remark.
On a crowded stage shared by the leaders who build the world's artificial intelligence, a president reached for a grander name for their work and tossed a teasing jab at one of them. The moment, reported by Business Today, shows how quickly the language of a fast-moving technology gets shaped by whoever is speaking loudest in the room. A term that philosophers once used for machines that outthink humanity has now been borrowed for a press gathering, and the meaning of that borrowing remains open. Whether the phrase settles into policy or fades as a passing flourish is a question only the coming months can answer.
Sundar Pichai had barely begun to speak when President Donald Trump took the floor back. Asked whether the Google chief wanted to say something to the room, Pichai started, and Trump cut across him with a backhanded compliment: "This guy is a monster, and nobody knows him." The crowd was packed with the people who run the AI industry, including Elon Musk, Dario Amodei, Greg Brockman, Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg. Pichai laughed along and fired back, "Hopefully a better tagline than I'm a monster!"
Online, the remark about Pichai being unknown drew mockery, with one user pointing out he has 11.7 million followers on X.
The bigger moment came when Trump told reporters that "artificial intelligence" had been relabeled "super intelligence" by the greatest minds around, a technology he said was far bigger than the industrial revolution and the internet. He spoke of possible gains from next-generation computing but did not outline specific steps.
The phrase is not his. Philosopher Nick Bostrom used super intelligence for machines that surpass human cognition across domains, a much more extreme idea than the everyday label of AI. Whether the swap was casual or deliberate remains unclear, and the real test is whether the new language appears in federal policy or investment plans.
Sundar Pichai had just started to speak when President Donald Trump cut across him. Trump had apparently asked the Google chief whether he wanted to say something to the room. Then, as Pichai began, the president took the floor back and delivered what Business Today calls a backhanded compliment. "This guy is a monster, and nobody knows him," Trump said. "What a great life! To be a monster and not have to go through this. All you have to know is – Sundar! Sundar is his name."
The room was crowded with the people who run the AI industry. Besides Pichai, the gathering included Elon Musk, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Greg Brockman of OpenAI, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. Trump was speaking to reporters with them present.
Pichai and the others appeared to laugh at the remark. Pichai answered with a joke of his own: "Hopefully a better tagline than I'm a monster!"
Online, the line about nobody knowing him drew pushback. One user wrote that anyone who doesn't know who Sundar Pichai is must be living under a rock. Another pointed out that Pichai has 11.7 million followers on X, "But yeah, nobody knows him."
The jab was not the main thing Trump said. He told reporters that the term "artificial intelligence" had been changed to "super intelligence" by what he described as the biggest, smartest and greatest people in the world. He also said the technology is much bigger than the internet. "This is why the SI, Super Intelligence, is – they're saying – bigger than the industrial revolution, far bigger than the internet, not even close," he said.
Trump added that the country could benefit immensely from advances in next-generation computing and AI systems. He did not, in the reporting available, say what specific steps would follow.
The phrase itself is not his. Philosopher Nick Bostrom defined super intelligence as a stage at which machines surpass human cognitive abilities across domains. It has long been used in that sense, which makes it a different and more extreme idea than the broad label of AI that most products are sold under. Whether Trump's wording is a casual swap or a deliberate one is not clear from the account.
What to watch is whether the new label carries into official language, whether federal AI policy or the talk of investment in next-generation computing starts to use it, or whether it stays a line from one gathering.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
This is why the SI, Super Intelligence, is – they're saying – bigger than the industrial revolution, far bigger than the internet, not even close.— Donald Trump
Hopefully a better tagline than I'm a monster!— Sundar Pichai
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