Trump hosts tech chiefs for ‘Super Intelligence’ lunch, says AI will be officially renamed

What Happened

The White House posted video of the event on its YouTube channel under the title “President Trump Participates in a Meeting and Luncheon on Super Intelligence.” Yahoo Finance, CNN and Reuters reported that it took place in the East Room.

White House staffer Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) posted a clip of the room at 1:42 p.m. CT: “.@POTUS hosts a Super Intelligence meeting at the White House.” Elon Musk quote-posted it at 2:55 p.m. CT with two words: “Super Intelligence.”

According to a seating chart the president posted on Truth Social, as reported by the Associated Press, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sat to Trump’s right and Musk to his left. CNBC reported that the chart put Vice President JD Vance across the table from the president, between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Watch: the @MargoMartin47 post on X

Elon Musk’s quote post on X

Full White House video of the remarks (YouTube)

What the President Said

On the executives

“These are the most brilliant people in the world. And the job they’ve done is unbelievable.” He said many of them had met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and him last week, and that Xi “acknowledged” they were “the most brilliant people.”

On America’s lead

“We have a very big lead and we’re going to keep our lead. And it’s a very positive thing.”

On the Industrial Revolution

“There are those that say it’s bigger than the Industrial Revolution. Now I don’t know if that’s so, but everyone seems to think it is and it could be substantially bigger.”

On the name

“We’re going to be signing a document today at about five o’clock, renaming artificial intelligence, because it’s not artificial. We all agree on that. And we’re going to be renaming it superintelligence, officially renaming it. And that’ll come out at five o’clock today.” He did not say what kind of document it would be. In a later exchange with reporters, carried live by The Hill, he said: “It’s been officially changed to superintelligence or S.I.”

On regulation

“Well, there’s a belief that there should be tremendous self-regulation. And we automatically have regulation with the Department of Justice, the FBI, all of that. But the self-regulation is very important.”

On local communities

He said the companies will “work with local communities for the data centers, in particular.” “That might be supplying oil and gas. It might be supplying education. It may be helping teachers along financially, helping people along financially.”

On data centers’ benefits

He said areas with data centers have become “very rich” and that people’s “taxes have gone down, not up.” He did not cite figures, and we have not verified that claim.

On the room

“There’s an unbelievable feeling in this room, sort of a feeling of love for our country. And they want to do the right things. These are people that love our country, I can tell you that.”

Quotes below are from the White House’s own video of the remarks, except where noted.

A Signed ‘Accord’

In a longer exchange with reporters, carried live by The Hill, a reporter asked whether an accord everyone signed was binding. Trump answered: “I think it’s morally binding, yeah.” He said the administration was “thinking about forming a committee of sorts” of “maybe 10 people” to “watch over the whole enterprise.”

Reuters reported that Speaker Johnson said AI executives signed an “accord” on AI standards; Reuters said he did not detail what that means. In the same exchange, Huang said: “There’s no conflict between innovation, technology, and safety.”

The accord itself has not been released. As of 3:19 p.m. CT, we found no copy on whitehouse.gov. Trump also said the White House would put out “a statement in a little while” summing up the meeting; none was posted as of that time.

The ‘Super Intelligence’ Name

Trump first announced the name change at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 22. “From this point forward, all of the United States’s documents, and hopefully the world’s, will be changed to use the much more accurate term ‘super,’ as opposed to ‘artificial,’” he said, as reported by The Hill. The Associated Press reported that the State Department then ordered diplomats in one bureau to use “Super Intelligence” in their documents.

The executive order Trump signed earlier Tuesday creating America.gov already uses the new term. It says it is U.S. policy to “ensure that super intelligence used in connection with America.gov is accurate, reliable, and transparent.” That order does not rename the technology. As of 3:19 p.m. CT, whitehouse.gov’s Presidential Actions page listed no order, memorandum or proclamation renaming artificial intelligence.

Who Was There

News reports confirmed these attendees: Musk (Tesla and SpaceX), Huang (Nvidia), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Sundar Pichai (Google), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Bezos (Amazon), Dario Amodei and Tom Brown (Anthropic), OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Palantir CEO Alex Karp and AMD CEO Lisa Su, along with Vance, Johnson and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (AP, CNBC, CNN, Yahoo Finance and Reuters). The Australian Financial Review reported that Amodei was not visible when reporters were brought into the room.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was not on the list; Axios reported he would be at OpenAI’s annual conference in San Francisco instead.

Earlier Tuesday: America.gov

The lunch followed the morning launch of America.gov, the AI-powered portal for federal services that the president and vice president unveiled at an all-day event, CNBC reported. There, Trump said, “I will never stifle the growth of a technology that will be bigger than the industrial revolution,” the AP reported. On Monday, we read the site’s countdown code ahead of the launch.

Executive order: Streamlining Access to Government Services Through America.gov

Our Sept. 28 story on the America.gov countdown