President Trump signed an executive order on September 29 titled “Inaugurating The Era Of Super Intelligence”. The executive branch will now use “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in place of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” in letters, websites, reports and policy documents. For now, the new term covers exactly what the legal definition of AI already covers.
New to this? Read it in simple words
- President Trump signed an order about the words the government uses for AI.
- Government offices must now write “Super Intelligence”, or “SI”, instead of “AI”.
- The order changes the name, not the rules for the technology.
- Within 60 days, an adviser must suggest a new legal meaning for the term.
- Executive order
- A written order from the US president to government agencies.
- Superintelligence
- In research, an AI that would be smarter than people at almost everything.
- Statute
- A law passed by a parliament or, in the US, by Congress.
What the order says
The executive branch “shall use the terms ‘Super Intelligence’ and ‘SI’ in place of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘AI’”, the order says.
Agencies must use the new terms in official letters, public communications, websites, reports and policy documents. Older regulations, contracts and other past documents do not have to be changed.
The order argues that today’s systems “far exceed what was envisioned” when the term artificial intelligence came into use, 70 years ago.
Sources1
From the executive order signed on September 29.
What changes, and what does not
For now, “Super Intelligence” means exactly what US law already defines as artificial intelligence. The order does not change any statute.
Within 60 days, the president’s science and technology adviser must propose legislative language for a federal definition of “Super Intelligence”. The proposal must assess whether it should expand or replace the current legal definition of AI.
Many researchers use “superintelligence” for future AI that would outperform people at almost every task. The order applies the term to AI in general, including today’s systems.
Sources1
What Trump said
“It’s not AI, it’s SI,” Trump told a reporter at the White House, The Hill reports. “We’ve changed the name officially.”
The order came on the same day as a voluntary AI accord with industry leaders and the launch of America.gov, a government AI chatbot. The America.gov order already uses the new term.
Sources
Every fact in this story comes from the sources below. Open them to check our work.
- 1
- 2Research · September 29, 2026AI firms sign ‘morally binding’ self-policing pledge in White House meeting The Hill
- 3
- 4Primary source · September 29, 2026Streamlining Access to Government Services Through America.gov The White House
We read the executive order on the White House website and compared The Hill’s and Semafor’s reports of what Trump said. The note on how researchers use “superintelligence” is our own context.