Effective immediately, “Artificial Intelligence” is no longer to be referred to as such in U.S. federal agencies, but rather as “Super Intelligence” (SI). U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered this by executive order.
On September 29, 2026, Trump signed an executive order titled “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence.” It requires all federal agencies to replace the term “Artificial Intelligence” or “AI” with “Super Intelligence” in official correspondence, on websites, and in reports. An official definition of the new term is to follow within 60 days. At the same time, tech executives such as Sundar Pichai, Elon Musk, Dario Amodei, Mark Zuckerberg, Greg Brockman, and Jensen Huang have signed a voluntary commitment to AI safety.
What Specifically Is Changing
According to the White House fact sheet, federal agencies must replace the terms “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” (SI) in official correspondence, public communications, on websites, in reports, and in policy documents. The President’s science advisor is to submit a binding definition for the new term within 60 days.
This change is not retroactive: Existing laws, contracts, and historical documents remain unaffected, as TechRepublic also notes. Companies are also not required to change their product names. Anyone using ChatGPT without an account will therefore continue to do so under that name, and Apple Intelligence will also remain as is, according to reports. The directive applies exclusively to communications from the executive branch; it does not apply to Congress or the private sector.
The White House explains the move as follows:
“The name Super Intelligence conveys the true capabilities of the technologies being developed today, unlocking new forms of human creativity and empowering Americans to achieve what was previously impossible.”
Trump himself summed it up more simply at the signing: The word “artificial” sounds like “fake intelligence,” yet the technology is “super powerful.” That’s why it’s now called SI, Super Intelligence.
Incidentally, the decision wasn’t made on a whim. Trump had previously let his followers vote on Truth Social between “Super Intelligence” and “Superior Intelligence.” About 65 percent voted for the now-official version.
Tech Companies Sign Parallel Pledge
On the sidelines of the signing ceremony, several influential tech executives met at the White House and signed the so-called “White House Accord on Super Intelligence”:
| Signatories | Company |
|---|---|
| Sundar Pichai | |
| Elon Musk | SpaceX / xAI |
| Dario Amodei | Anthropic |
| Mark Zuckerberg | Meta |
| Greg Brockman | OpenAI |
| Jensen Huang | Nvidia |
The agreement provides for internal controls, independent audits, and stronger oversight at the board level, though on a voluntary basis. Trump called it “morally binding,” but it is not legally enforceable. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang promptly picked up on the new term and referred to his data centers as “SI factories, super intelligence factories.”
Not everyone is enthusiastic: Democratic Senator Mark Warner criticized the renaming, arguing that it does nothing to address the real risks posed by increasingly powerful AI systems and is ultimately just another example of self-regulation rather than genuine protective measures. Just recently, for example, OpenAI paused training on its GPT-6.1 Astra model due to safety concerns, which shows that these worries are not unfounded.
A term that actually already exists
One detail in particular is raising eyebrows among experts: “superintelligence” has long been an established technical term in AI research. It describes systems that surpass human intelligence in virtually all areas. Such systems simply do not exist at present. Even current state-of-the-art models like Google’s Gemini 4 Argon or Claude are still technically considered relatively narrowly specialized AI, not superintelligence in the scientific sense.
The fact that the government is now using the term broadly to refer to all forms of AI is likely to muddy rather than clarify the public debate about true superintelligence, AGI, and today’s AI applications.
Part of a Broader AI Strategy
The renaming is part of a series of AI policy measures by the U.S. government. As early as July 2025, the White House had announced over 90 measures to strengthen U.S. technological leadership with the “America’s AI Action Plan,” followed in March 2026 by the “National Super Intelligence Policy Framework.” In addition, more than $5 billion has been allocated for the “Genesis Mission,” which aims to advance AI research in medicine, energy, and manufacturing. There is one primary goal behind this: to stay ahead in the race with China for AI supremacy.
It remains to be seen whether “Super Intelligence” will gain traction in the long term or disappear again after 60 days into a much more technical official definition. For anyone who works with ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or Copilot on a daily basis, nothing will change for the time being: the tools will continue to be called what they are.
Sources: White House Fact Sheet, TechRepublic, Forbes,
