WASHINGTON, September 29: U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the executive branch to replace the terms “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in official government communications, describing the rapidly advancing technology as a new era of intelligence with transformative potential, a release issued by the White House reads.
In an executive order signed at the White House on September 29, Trump said the United States stands at the forefront of what he described as a “new technological revolution in intelligence,” arguing that the country’s scientific institutions, technology companies and entrepreneurial ecosystem are again pushing the technological frontier.
The order said modern technologies have advanced significantly beyond the capabilities originally associated with artificial intelligence when the field emerged in the United States around seven decades ago.
According to the order, frontier systems increasingly go beyond imitating or automating individual aspects of human intelligence. They are described as technologies that can amplify human ingenuity, enable new forms of creativity and help expand human capabilities across fields including science and medicine.
“As these capabilities continue to improve, they increasingly represent not merely artificial intelligence, but a new era of Super Intelligence,” the order states.
The administration has therefore directed federal agencies, to the maximum extent permitted by law, to use “Super Intelligence” and “SI” instead of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” in their official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents and other non-statutory executive-branch documents.
The directive does not require the government to alter previously issued regulations, presidential actions, contracts, grants or historical documents.
Existing legal definition to remain in place
The order also establishes an interim legal framework for the new terminology. For purposes of implementing the executive order, “Super Intelligence” and “SI” will mean the technologies and systems covered by the existing statutory definition of “artificial intelligence” under Section 9401(3) of Title 15 of the United States Code.
That definition will remain applicable unless it is superseded by subsequent presidential action consistent with law or by an Act of Congress.
The order further sets a 60-day deadline for the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology to submit proposed legislative language establishing a federal definition of “Super Intelligence” and “SI.”
The proposed legislation is expected to examine whether the new definition should modify, expand or replace the existing statutory definition of artificial intelligence.
It must also consider corresponding amendments to existing laws that refer to “artificial intelligence” or “AI,” as well as any additional presidential or executive actions that may be required to implement the proposed terminology across the federal government.
Technology policy shift
The order frames the terminology change as more than a communications exercise, linking it to the administration’s broader characterization of rapidly developing advanced technologies.
It emphasizes the role of American scientists, research institutions, companies and entrepreneurs in the development of the technology and presents the United States as continuing to occupy a leading position at the technological frontier.
At the same time, the order preserves existing institutional and legal authorities. It states that nothing in the directive should impair the authority granted by law to federal departments and agencies or alter the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget concerning budgetary, administrative or legislative proposals.
Implementation will remain subject to applicable law and the availability of appropriations.
The order also specifies that it does not create any new enforceable rights or benefits against the U.S. government, its agencies, officials or other persons.
The publication costs of the order will be borne by the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Signed by Trump at the White House on September 29, the directive formally introduces “Super Intelligence” and “SI” as the preferred terminology for the technology across the U.S. executive branch, while leaving any broader statutory change to a future legislative process.
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