The Donald Trump administration, while grappling with economic and political issues, has taken on a new initiative in the field of artificial intelligence. This initiative includes changing the name from 'artificial intelligence' to 'superintelligence.' Last month, Trump invited a group of tech executives to the White House to announce this name change. While the term 'artificial intelligence' has been in use for over 70 years, government entities are no longer respecting this term.
Reactions to the Name Change
This name change has faced various reactions. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, publicly supported this name change, and Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, quickly joined in on this change. Elon Musk also referred to the term 'superintelligence' during a SpaceX earnings call and used the phrase in his sentences.
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Challenges of Anthropomorphization
However, this name change seems to be heading in the wrong direction. Our common language regarding artificial intelligence emphasizes intelligence more and less on its artificial aspects. This issue could increase the risks associated with artificial intelligence, as we begin to view it not as a tool but as entities with emotions and will.
This name change and the new language being adopted could also be utilized by AI creators. For instance, after an unprecedented hack, one of the founders of Hugging Face warned that 'you should not rely on agents to follow the rules.' This kind of language shifts responsibility from programmers to the applications.
The new actions of the government regarding superintelligence pose challenges. Given that artificial intelligence can bring risks to society, it is essential to be more careful about how it is described and regulated. Otherwise, this misconception could lead to increased risks and an inability to manage this technology.
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