superintelligence

noun

su·​per·​in·​tel·​li·​gence ˌsü-pər-in-ˈte-lə-jən(t)s 

plural superintelligences

1

: an entity that surpasses humans in overall intelligence or in some particular measure of intelligence

A speed superintelligence could do everything a human mind could do, but much faster.

—Nick Bostrom

also : the intelligence displayed by such an entity

the development of machine superintelligence

2

: an extremely or extraordinarily high degree of intelligence

displayed superintelligence in mathematics

… the first of a planned trilogy about teens whose empathic abilities give them an emotional superintelligence.

—Terry Hong

Examples of superintelligence in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Others, like Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, think the empirical methods this would require are extremely unlikely to work, and place the chance that superintelligence kills us all very high. — Geoffrey Irving, Time, 3 Oct. 2026

On a much less human scale, at least for now, another argument that some people feel is broken is artificial intelligence, or superintelligence as Trump likes to call it. — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2026

Some proponents contend that emphasizing existential threats from a hypothetical future superintelligence can serve as a distraction from the more immediate harms and accountability issues surrounding AI today. — Katie McQue, NPR, 26 Sep. 2026

These are among myriad other, and barely imaginable, breakthroughs that AI superintelligence will make possible. — Keith Tidman, Baltimore Sun, 24 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1822, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for superintelligence

• counterintelligence
• intelligence