Trump official criticised as he talks ‘super intelligence’ amid US aviation crisis

US airports were plunged into chaos on Friday, when the Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop – the second since 9/11 – due to “communication issues”, which was lifted several hours later.

But when a Trump official fielded questions from reporters, his pedantry over how people should refer to artificial intelligence (AI).

Outside the White House, homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin was asked if the situation could be related to AI.

He replied: “We call it SI around here – SI. You just can’t rule out anything at this point.

“We’re going through that process, and we’re going to find out what happened, and when we do, we’ll take the appropriate actions to make sure it don’t happen again.”

But the focus on semantics, instead of the aviation crisis, has seen Mullin called out on social media:

“There is a national emergency. Nobody has time for this bulls***,” wrote MeidasTouch:

Philadelphia representative and vice chair of the Democrats Malcolm Kenyatta tweeted: “I wish there was one person with just regular intelligence in this goddamn administration”:

The press office of California governor Gavin Newsom commented: “And around here your flight’s pronouns are delayed/cancelled”:

“I’m going to crash out,” said podcaster Krystal Ball:

Democrat and content creator Harry Sisson asked: “Is he being serious right now? A nationwide ground stop and he’s doing this bulls***”:

And Unherd columnist Richard Hannania wrote sarcastically: “I’m so glad we have such serious public servants working on the important issues that affect people’s lives”:

As a reminder, Donald Trump wrote on his social media platforms in September that “superior intelligence” was a “far more elegant and accurate description of the new phenomena” instead.

He followed this up a month later with the signing of an accord with tech bosses, and the establishment of a dedicated “Super Intelligence Force”.

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