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US President Donald Trump has declared that whoever wins the race for artificial intelligence will gain a decisive global advantage, claiming that the United States is currently leading China “by a lot”.
Trump made the remarks on Tuesday while addressing world leaders at the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he devoted part of his speech to the intensifying global competition over artificial intelligence.
“Whoever wins AI, you have to remember this, and now I say, whoever wins SI, whoever wins Superintelligence wins. That’s the group that wins,” Trump said.
He added that the United States was ahead of China and other countries in the development of the technology, saying, “And we’re leading now over China by a lot and everyone else. We’re going to keep it that way.”
Trump said he would not support measures that stifle AI development, arguing that the technology could have an impact greater than previous technological revolutions.
“I’m not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution,” he said, adding that some people believe it could become more significant than the internet.
The US president also announced that his administration would begin referring to artificial intelligence as “super intelligence”, saying the new description was more accurate.
“From this point forward, all of United States documents, and hopefully the world’s will be changed to use the much more accurate term ‘super’ as opposed to artificial. So it’s super intelligence,” Trump said.
While acknowledging that the technology presented challenges, Trump rejected what he described as exaggerated warnings about its potential dangers and said the US would continue to encourage its development while relying on law enforcement to intervene where necessary.
“We’re going to watch it closely through the Department of Justice,” he said, referring to the government’s approach to the technology.
Trump’s comments come as the United States and China compete for leadership in artificial intelligence, with the technology increasingly linked to economic competitiveness, advanced computing, data infrastructure and national security.
Beyond AI, Trump used his UN address to discuss the wars in Gaza, Iran and Ukraine, US immigration policy and his administration’s approach to international affairs. He also claimed that his administration had helped resolve eight conflicts since taking office and expressed confidence that the Russia-Ukraine war could also be brought to an end.
The US president’s AI remarks placed technological leadership alongside military and economic power as a central theme of his address, with Washington signalling that it intends to maintain its lead in the rapidly developing sector.
