Trump Says the Government Will Ban the Term 'AI', Google's AI Mode Will Not Name the 2020 Winner, and Meta Tests an AI Pet in the Philippines
Title: Trump Says the Government Will Ban the Term 'AI', Google's AI Mode Will Not Name the 2020 Winner, and Meta Tests an AI Pet in the Philippines
Date: 30 October 2026
Type: Blog
Author: SAASiQ (contact@saasiq.ai)
Word count: 1431 words
Reading time: 6 min
Published: 30-10-2026
President Trump wrote on Truth Social on 27 October that the government will soon be "officially BANNING" the term 'Artificial Intelligence'. He wants 'Super Intelligence' used instead. On 28 October, users found that Google's AI Mode would not say who won the 2020 US presidential election. Google blamed a "technical gap" in how AI Mode checks election answers. TechCrunch reported on 28 October that Meta is testing Waddle World, an AI pet app, in the Philippines. Fast Company reported the same day that costumes based on AI chatbots and AI-made characters are on sale for Halloween.
Banning two words
On Tuesday 27 October President Trump posted on Truth Social about The Wall Street Journal. He asked when the newspaper would stop writing 'artificial intelligence' and switch to "SI (Super Intelligence)". He called the old term "a very bad and inaccurate name". Then he wrote: "In short order, we will be officially BANNING the term, 'AI/Artificial Intelligence,' in all relevant documents, and everything else, due to its inaccuracy." The capitals were his.
SAASiQ covered the first stages of the rename on 9 October. Trump proposed 'Super Intelligence' at the UN General Assembly on 22 September. He signed an executive order on 29 September that tells federal agencies to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in official communications. Newsweek reported after the post that the order covers the executive branch only. It sets no rule for private companies, researchers, journalists or the public. Another report said the order does not require agencies to rewrite earlier regulations, contracts or other historical documents.
The post did not say which documents a ban would reach, or what "everything else" means. Mediaite asked the White House press office about First Amendment concerns. The office replied: "refer to the TRUTH".
Jamal Greene, a professor at Columbia Law School, told Newsweek that a president has limited control over the wording of the federal government's own documents. He said a president has no authority over the wording of The Wall Street Journal or any other private body. Forbes noted on 27 October that the Associated Press Stylebook still lists 'AI' as the correct term.
Geoffrey Hinton, who shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for work on neural networks, told The Guardian that Trump's use of the term shows he understands "almost nothing" about AI. "'Superintelligence' means 'smarter than people,' and has been around for at least 20 years," Hinton said. Reports differ on when the interview was published.
Elon Musk has taken up the term. He said on X on 4 October that SpaceXAI, the AI division of SpaceX, would be renamed SpaceXSI. Variety reported after the post that the unit now goes by "SpaceX Super Intelligence" and "SpaceXSI". Its website address was still x.ai.
Google's AI Mode and the 2020 election
On Wednesday 28 October users posted screenshots of Google's AI Mode, the chatbot built into Google Search. Asked who won the 2020 US presidential election, AI Mode did not name Joe Biden. It pointed users to records held by the Federal Election Commission and the National Archives, with a warning that AI can make mistakes.
Most outlets said the screenshots first circulated on Bluesky. Newsweek said the key ones were posted on X by an editorial writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer. The same screenshots showed AI Mode answering the question for 2016 and for 2024. In both cases it said Donald Trump won.
Google's other products answered. TheWrap reported that the Gemini app named Biden as the winner, by 306 electoral votes to 232. ChatGPT and Claude also answered directly, according to Gadget Review.
Google's news account replied on Bluesky that the Gemini app "answers this question more fully". It said the AI Mode reply "isn't the most helpful response on Search" and that Google was "working to address it". A Google spokesperson later explained the cause. AI Mode checks its answers about elections against news coverage or AP results for recent contests, and against historical records for older ones. "There was a technical gap with 2020," the spokesperson said. Newsweek quoted the phrase as "technology gap". Google said the 2022 Senate elections had the same problem.
Ars Technica ran its own tests, according to summaries of its report. AI Mode gave a similar pointer to the FEC for 2024 in some of them. For 2012 it gave a link in place of an answer. A question about which party held the Senate after 2020 sent users to Senate records. When Ars asked again later, AI Mode named the winners and cited Google Civics data. Newsweek reported that the problem appeared to have been fixed.
The FEC does not certify election results. Its published figures for 2020 give Biden 81,283,501 popular votes, or 51.31% of the total, and Trump 74,223,975, or 46.85%.
Meta's AI pet app
TechCrunch and Engadget reported on 28 October that Meta has released an app called Waddle World. It is a virtual pet in the style of a Tamagotchi. The app is free, on iOS and Android, and available only in the Philippines. It is rated for adults.
Its App Store listing is published under Meta Platforms, Inc. The listings were spotted by the social media consultant Matt Navarra, and they date the launch to late September. Meta has not said when, or whether, the app will reach other countries.
Users hatch a pet and then feed it and play with it. They can type or speak to it about their day. The pet replies using Meta's AI and draws a small doodle to go with each entry. Mini-games earn points that buy food and toys.
The listing calls the app "a daily journal disguised as a pet". Meta says it is not an AI chatbot, an assistant or a productivity tool. According to Engadget, it does not use daily streaks or competitive scores to keep people coming back.
Gizmodo reported that the app discloses that it collects audio. It does not say whether people's entries are used to train Meta's models, and Meta has not confirmed either way. TechCrunch suggested the app could be a forerunner of a Tamagotchi-like device from Meta. Meta has not commented on that.
Dressed as a usage limit
Fast Company reported on 28 October on AI costumes for Halloween. One example it gives is Daria, a creator on Instagram. She posted an AI-generated image of a costume that personifies Claude's usage limit, the message users see when they run out of their allowance. The post drew about two million views.
She followed it with a costume based on the ChatGPT logo, carrying its own "limit reached" message. She then made a physical version of the Claude costume. In her caption she objected to the way her screenshots, and AI-generated images of her, were being used by others. She also reported that a scammer had used her photos to sell the costume online for $109.99.
Spirit Halloween sells children's costumes of two 'Italian brainrot' characters, Tung Tung Tung Sahur at $44.99 and Ballerina Cappuccina at $49.99. Fast Company describes the characters as AI-generated. Spirit lists both as officially licensed but does not name the licence holder, the trade site Haunted Attraction Network reported. Party City sells its own Tung Tung costume for $39.99.
In a HalloweenCostumes.com survey, 37 per cent of people said they had used generative AI to help plan Halloween, and 18 per cent had used it for costumes. A National Retail Federation survey for 2026 found that 47 per cent use AI platforms and tools for Halloween shopping.
In Alameda, California, a talking skeleton called Uncle Murray is greeting people on a porch, KPIX, CBS's Bay Area station, reported. It was built by Nathalie Chabas, who is nine, with help from her father, Jim. In August she saw a Home Depot skeleton that could say three recorded sentences. She connected a Raspberry Pi, a computer about the size of a cookie, to serve as its new brain.
A motion sensor wakes the skeleton when someone approaches the porch. Its eyes glow and it gives a greeting. Its replies are not scripted. Nathalie said she programmed in some information and the skeleton came up with the rest itself. In just over a month it has held more than 60 conversations. She is considering a companion skeleton for next year.
What happens next
The White House has not said which documents the ban on 'AI' would cover, or when. Google has not said whether any elections other than 2020 and the 2022 Senate contests were affected by the gap in AI Mode. Halloween is on Saturday 31 October.
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