A top White House technology official told the United Nations Security Council on Sept. 23 that the United States will reject new global governance structures for artificial intelligence (AI), echoing President Donald Trump’s push to refer to the technology as “superintelligence.”
“As President Trump said before the General Assembly yesterday, the United States totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme of control for superintelligence,” said Michael Kratsios, assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Kratsios said the United States supports international dialogue on emerging technologies but warned that those discussions should not lead to global AI governance.
“A prosperous future will not be secured by a global regulator,” Kratsios said. “It will be secured by sovereign nations that adopt superintelligence, responsible companies that build it, and free people who refuse to be ruled by fear.”
Kratsios said the United States has “engaged frontier labs on testing and evaluation of new model capabilities, established cybersecurity clearinghouses for coordination on vulnerability mitigation, and clarified the existing law enforcement tools available to address harmful uses of superintelligence.”
His remarks further defined the Trump administration’s approach to AI governance as industry leaders and international officials debate whether increasingly capable AI systems require additional safeguards and international coordination.
“The American people’s representatives will legislate and regulate on the American people’s behalf,” Kratsios said. “You should do the same for your people.”
A day earlier, Trump called for the United States to replace the term “artificial intelligence” with “superintelligence.” During his Sept. 22 address to the U.N. General Assembly, Trump said the word “artificial” makes the technology “sound fake.”
Trump said the United States should use what he called the “much more accurate term” superintelligence in government documents and expressed hope that the rest of the world would adopt the terminology.
“So it’s super intelligence,” Trump said. “In other words, welcome to the new world of superintelligence – SI. It sounds much better.”
Trump also used the speech to dismiss AI safety warnings and frame competition with China as a race the United States must win.
“Whoever wins AI, you have to remember this,” Trump said. “And now I say, whoever wins SI, whoever wins, superintelligence wins. That’s the group that wins.”
Trump said the United States is leading China in the technology “by a lot” and pledged to maintain that position. He also said he would not “stifle growth” of a technology that he said many believe could become bigger than the Industrial Revolution or the internet.
The president criticized warnings about the potential dangers of AI, including claims that increasingly capable systems could “kill us all,” that robots could attack people, and that “everything is going to be a total disaster.”
At the same time, Trump said the government would monitor the technology and could use existing law enforcement authorities when necessary.
Kratsios echoed that approach at the Security Council, saying the United States intends to pursue “permissionless innovation” while balancing innovation and safety.