'I don’t like anything artificial': Trump wants to rename AI, calls it 'pure genius,' mocks authors over copyright complaints

US President Donald Trump surprised tech industry leaders at a Washington summit on Wednesday (July 23) by calling for a name change to artificial intelligence, saying he doesn’t like anything “artificial” and insisting AI is actually “pure genius”.

Trump criticises the term ‘artificial’ in artificial intelligence

Speaking at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, Trump opened the AI summit by praising what he called “the greatest power of them all, the brain power”. He quickly moved off-script to complain about the phrase “artificial intelligence”.

“I can’t stand it. I don’t even like the name,” he told the audience. “You know I don’t like anything that’s artificial. So could we straighten that out please? We should change the name,” he added. As some in the audience laughed, Trump added, “I actually mean that. I don’t like the name artificial, because it’s not artificial, it’s genius, it’s pure genius.”

Trump’s distaste for naming conventions is not new. One of his first acts in office was attempting to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”.

Trump dismisses authors’ rights in AI copyright row

The president also took aim at concerns from authors and publishers whose books and articles have been used to train large language models without payment. He argued against the idea that tech companies should pay to use such material.

“You can’t be expected to have a successful AI program when every single article, book or anything else that you’ve read or studied, you’re supposed to pay for,” he said.

Mocking the copyright concerns, Trump added sarcastically, “‘Gee, I read a book, I’m supposed to pay somebody.’ You know, we appreciate that, but you just can’t do it, because it’s not doable.”

He went on, “When a person reads a book or an article, you’ve gained great knowledge; that does not mean that you’re violating copyright laws or have to make deals with every content provider.”

Trump repeats election claims during AI remarks

During his remarks, Trump also repeated exaggerated claims about the scale of his 2024 victory. He said he won by “millions and millions of votes”, when the actual margin was two million, and claimed he won more “districts” than Kamala Harris, likely meaning counties.

Despite going off-script several times, Trump used the event to position himself as a supporter of AI development, while arguing against regulations or rules that would limit companies’ access totrainingdata.