Musk and Zuckerberg echo Trump's 'super intelligence' rebrand on earnings calls, other tech CEOs stick with AI

Trump made the declaration on Sept. 29 while hosting an AI luncheon at the White House for industry leaders. At the time, he was working to ensure the growth of AI in the US with limited regulations. This week he announced on Truth Social that he is banning the use of the terms 'AI' or 'artificial intelligence' in 'all relevant documents' and 'everything else.' The attempted rebrand is taking place days before the midterm elections, with the Republican Party in jeopardy of losing control of the House and Senate and Trump's economic approval rating at an all-time low, according to CNBC's latest All-America Economic Survey.

SpaceX and Tesla adhered to Trump's wishes on earnings calls last week, after Musk changed the name of his rocket company's AI division to SpaceXSI earlier in October. On Tesla's call 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 was equally compliant on Meta's earnings call on Oct. 21, emphasizing his company's "goal of delivering personal superintelligence to everyone." Meta was already using the term, having created a unit called Meta Superintelligence Labs last year.

Other tech chief executives were less eager. Amazon's Andy Jassy used AI well over a dozen times in the opening remarks of his call on Thursday. A day earlier, Microsoft's Satya Nadella said one of the company's three points of focus is "designing AI to empower people," and Alphabet's Sundar Pichai said "AI investments are driving increased usage and overall user growth" seconds into his earnings commentary.

Trump's preferred term is nonetheless seeping into other corporate documents. Microsoft's annual report, filed last week, included eight mentions of super intelligence, starting at the top of the letter to shareholders. "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," Nadella wrote. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, who did not attend Trump's September lunch, used SI alongside AI on IBM's call, citing "technology innovation in both hybrid infrastructure and super intelligence" and describing IBM as a "software-led hybrid cloud and AI platform company." Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said on Thursday that the industry's chip supply shortage has been "driven by the unprecedented demand for super intelligence."

Some tech executives have been explicit in their support of Trump's terminology. Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora repeatedly referred to SI on CNBC and posted on X on Sept. 30 that "The meeting at the WH on SI was an epic moment." Nvidia's Jensen Huang, one of Trump's most vocal supporters in tech, praised the "White House Accord on Super Intelligence" after the AI meeting last month. "Super Intelligence offers an extraordinary opportunity to advance discovery, productivity, security, health, and prosperity," Huang wrote. "The future of Super Intelligence will be shaped not only by what it can do, but by the confidence it earns."

Leaders of all the tech giants have contributed to Trump's inauguration festivities or his plan for the White House ballroom, and some have been intentional about getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programs the president opposed. For now, CNBC said, they are holding out when it comes to eliminating the term AI.