Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg adopted President Trump's preferred "super intelligence" terminology on their latest earnings calls, while the CEOs of Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet continued using "AI" despite the White House push to retire the term.
A month after President Donald Trump ordered executive branch departments to replace the term "artificial intelligence" with "super intelligence," two of his most prominent tech allies followed his lead on their companies' quarterly earnings calls — while the chiefs of Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet declined to do the same.
Elon Musk and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg both adopted Trump's preferred terminology on their respective earnings calls, reflecting a pattern of alignment that has characterized their relationships with the administration.
Trump's declaration took place on Sept. 29, during a White House AI luncheon for industry leaders. He later announced on Truth Social that he is banning the use of "AI" and "artificial intelligence" in "all relevant documents" and "everything else," framing the shift as part of a broader effort to promote American leadership in the technology with limited regulatory constraints.
Musk's SpaceX had already moved in that direction earlier in October, when he renamed the company's AI division to SpaceXSI. On Tesla's earnings call, speaking about humanoid robots, Musk said, "Some of them look very impressive, but they're not really using any kind of advanced AI or SI."
Zuckerberg echoed that framing on Meta's Oct. 21 earnings call, describing his company's "goal of delivering personal superintelligence to everyone." Meta had already been moving in this direction, having established a unit called Meta Superintelligence Labs the prior year.
The three major holdouts — Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Amazon's Andy Jassy, and Alphabet's Sundar Pichai — all leaned on the original terminology during their calls this week. Jassy used "AI" more than a dozen times in his opening remarks alone. Nadella cited "designing AI to empower people" as one of Microsoft's three strategic priorities. Pichai invoked it within seconds of beginning his quarterly commentary, saying the company's "AI investments are driving increased usage and overall user growth."
That resistance, however, is not absolute. Microsoft's annual report, filed last week, included eight mentions of "super intelligence" starting from the shareholder letter. Nadella wrote: "For Microsoft, the central question as we enter this Super Intelligence era is not just how big the opportunity becomes, but how we deliver the real-world outcomes that every country, community, and company demands and deserves."
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, who did not attend the September White House lunch, used both terms on his earnings call. "Technology innovation in both hybrid infrastructure and super intelligence is leading to better business performance," Krishna said.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan went further, saying the chip industry's current supply shortage has been "driven by the unprecedented demand for super intelligence."
Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora has been among the more vocal advocates of Trump's preferred framing, repeatedly referring to "SI" in public appearances and posting on X on Sept. 30: "The meeting at the WH on SI was an epic moment."
Nvidia's Jensen Huang, whose company is the world's most valuable and whose chips have powered much of the technology buildout, also praised the administration's position after the September meeting, writing on X: "Super Intelligence offers an extraordinary opportunity to advance discovery, productivity, security, health, and prosperity."
Trump's terminology push comes as the Republican Party faces midterm elections next week, with control of both the House and Senate in question. His job approval has been declining, and his economic approval rating hit an all-time low, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey released last week.
Whether the "super intelligence" label gains broader industry adoption will likely depend in part on how the midterms reshape the administration's political leverage — and how willing major platform companies are to align their public language with White House preferences ahead of potential regulatory scrutiny.
Sara Montes de Oca is the Editor in Chief of TechEchelon. Previously a correspondent and producer in Washington, D.C., covering business, finance, and politics.
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