Geoffrey Hinton — a pioneering computer scientist known as the “Godfather of AI” — has ripped President Donald Trump for trying to rebrand AI as “superintelligence,” saying it proves he understands “almost nothing” about it.

“Superintelligence means smarter than people, and has been around for at least 20 years. It’s got a very clear meaning,” said Hinton of a term used to describe a hypothetical form of intelligence that surpasses that of humans in an interview with The Guardian published Tuesday.

The Turing Award and Nobel Prize winner continued, “And now he says we’re going to call AI ‘superintelligence.’ You can’t make it smarter than people just by calling it smarter than people.”

Hinton — who described the president as “a corrupt, senile felon” — also weighed in on Trump’s deal with AI leaders where they voluntarily agreed to self-regulate, despite fears that AI may lead to human extinction.

“I’m sure the oil and asbestos companies would have liked to [regulate themselves] as well,” he said.

“Do we think tobacco companies should have been allowed to design the warnings on the packets? So that they could print them in a six-point font, in dark grey on black?”

Hinton stressed to CBC News last month that the president’s takes on AI were “ill-advised” before likening the potential danger associated with AI to owning a tiger cub.

“It’s going to grow up, and unless you can figure out how to prevent it [from] ever wanting to kill you, you’re in trouble,” he said.

Pioneering computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, who is known as the "godfather of AI,” speaks to reporters following an AI briefing at the U.S. Capitol last month. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)

Roberto Schmidt via Getty Images

The computer scientist — who quit Google in 2023 to speak out on the risks of AI — said he, in part, regretted his key contributions to the field at the time and warned that AI technology was becoming increasingly dangerous.

In particular, he warned of a potential flood of misinformation on the internet and expressed fears that AI “could actually get smarter than people” and, ultimately, pose a threat to the human race.

In his interview shared by The Guardian on Tuesday, Hinton highlighted how Anthrophic — the AI giant behind Claude — has held private meetings with religious scholars, looking at the possibility that AI models could be conscious.

“Once you start talking about, ‘We have a moral obligation towards these alien beings,’ you lose your audience,” he said.

Read more of Hinton’s interview with The Guardian here.