California governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order on 30 September directing state agencies to continue using “artificial intelligence” or “AI”, despite President Donald Trump’s move to call the technology “super intelligence”, State Affairs reported. The order is legally binding on agencies under the governor’s authority.
The directive puts California’s government vocabulary at odds with the federal terminology. Trump told reporters on 29 September that the change was “because it’s not artificial, we all agree on that”, the Washington Examiner reported. An earlier AI Affairs report covered Trump’s order for US agencies to use “Super Intelligence”.
Newsom described his order more broadly in a post on X: “I just signed an executive order permanently declaring Artificial Intelligence ‘Artificial Intelligence’ in California. You’re welcome, America.” The Washington Examiner reported that wording from the order also criticised the idea that changing a name could divert attention from “well-documented emerging security and safety risks”.
