Tech CEOs adopt Trump’s ‘super intelligence’ label as visa crackdown threatens AI talent

Trump pushes “super intelligence” label

President Donald Trump announced an executive order that government agencies must use the term “super intelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence.” In a televised briefing he warned that anyone who continues to use “AI” is “the enemy.” The order, released on Oct 8 2026, also called for an “emergency brake” on the development of the technology.

Silicon Valley executives jump on board

Within hours of the announcement, a handful of the sector’s most visible leaders started swapping the old acronym for Trump’s preferred wording. Elon Musk tweeted that SpaceX would rename its internal AI division to SpaceX SI. Salesforce chief Marc Benioff said the company would rebrand its AIForce unit as SIForce. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who attended the summit where the order was unveiled, pledged a $1 billion investment in “super intelligence research.” Microsoft’s Satya Nadella echoed the new terminology in a blog post calling for an “emergency brake” on the technology, referring to it exclusively as “super intelligence.” Others present at the summit – Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos and OpenAI co‑founder Dario Amodei – also used the phrase in remarks.

Visa crackdown fuels industry alarm

At the same time, the Trump administration announced a suspension of new H‑1B visa petitions and a halt to permanent‑labor‑certification (green‑card) applications for several tech firms, including Microsoft and Nvidia. The move is part of a broader effort to curb what officials describe as “displacement of American workers.”

Tech leaders quickly warned that the policy could backfire. In a joint statement, the CEOs of Nvidia, Salesforce, and Microsoft said the restrictions “risk driving the very engineers and researchers we need to keep America at the forefront of super‑intelligence innovation.” A spokesperson for the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) added that “the United States cannot afford to lose the talent pipeline that fuels breakthroughs in AI.”

What’s at stake?

The industry argues that cutting off H‑1B and green‑card pathways will push skilled AI professionals to Europe or Asia, where visa regimes are more welcoming. That, they say, would erode the United States’ competitive edge in a field already dominated by a handful of global players. Critics of the administration contend the policy is a political response to public anxiety over AI, rather than a measured approach to immigration.

Looking ahead

Congress is expected to debate the visa reforms in the coming weeks, while the tech community continues to test the limits of the “super intelligence” rebrand. Whether the terminology sticks or the visa changes are softened remains uncertain, but the clash between political messaging and the practical needs of AI research is now front‑and‑center in Silicon Valley.