Trump has announced the use of two tools to kill two different birds. Not the usual one-shot killing of two birds. He wants to use Russia tariffs to force an end to the Ukraine war. This piece, however, deals with his replacement of AI with SI. He now calls SI “Super Intelligence”. He feels SI sounds much better and much more accurate. He seems to pretend ignorance of the fact that tech and AI experts note that “superintelligence” already has an established definition in computer science—referring to a hypothetical future intelligence far exceeding human capabilities. Applying it to current generative AI models is technically inaccurate.
When the rest of the world is appealing for a slowdown of AI along with international supervision, Trump suspects this to be a “globalist scheme” to control the new technology. Trump drowns himself in the false aura of his country’s supremacy, knowing pretty well that the world order is undergoing a metamorphosis and neither is the US any longer a superpower nor is it in a position to call the shots across the world.
If it were so, his country’s billionaires would not buy expensive properties in a non-descript Rwanda, even though this is brushed aside as a misunderstanding because heavy institutional investments, multi-million-dollar real estate developments and high-profile philanthropic projects led by wealthy Americans in the small African country are indeed on the rise. Nor would it dilly-dally with India on various issues, only to somersault sooner than later.
Can AI change just because Trump wants it to be termed SI? What is so super about AI? India has AI experts in thousands, if not lakhs, and a good number of them are helping all developed countries, including developing India. But India is humble enough to give credit first to its Natural Intelligence (NI) rather than AI. After all, it is the application of NI that makes AI fructify and become successful, but definitely not to the extent of vanquishing the former altogether.
Agreed, there is no established term as NI in this context. But when Trump can declare SI, why can’t we take pride in our NI? After all, NI is the root cause of the birth of AI. There is a threat of 20 per cent of humanity disappearing because of the rising capabilities of AI. There is indeed a threat of AI becoming super-smart to the extent of overtaking the cognitive capabilities of human beings. Trump is using SI primarily for political and branding purposes rather than really serving the purpose of AI. He seems to feel that before his term ends, AI would be conquering the human brain and becoming an irreversible force to reckon with.
Sidelining the term AI cannot dwarf the importance and penetration of its power in every field that propels the world’s strength. Would it not be better to leave its management to experts rather than global politicians like Trump and others?
Trump is in acute need of NI in the form of common sense, be it in his handling of the Iran war, stopping the Ukraine war, or still claiming that he ended the India-Pakistan war. Hopefully, ultimately, he would not blame AI—sorry, SI—for having pushed him into a world of fantasies and imagination, making him vulnerable to changing his versions from dawn to dusk and to dawn again.
It is high time the Don sees, by dawn, the reality after getting up from his sleep on a daily basis.
