Trump orders federal agencies to use ‘Super Intelligence’ in place of AI

President Donald Trump signed an executive order at the White House on September 29 directing US executive agencies to use ‘Super Intelligence’ and ‘SI’ in place of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘AI’ in official communications, to the maximum extent permitted by law. The change affects how agencies describe the technology now, while leaving a possible new legal definition for later consideration.

The order covers official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents and other non-statutory documents. It also gives the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology 60 days to submit proposed legislative language for a federal definition of the new terms. The order does not itself rewrite the definition already in federal law.

Where agencies must use ‘Super Intelligence’

The instruction applies across executive departments and agencies, but it has express limits. Agencies are directed to use the new wording only as far as the law allows. The order says implementation must comply with applicable law and depends on available appropriations. It does not set out a completed timetable for changing every agency website or document.

Previously issued regulations, presidential actions, contracts, grants and other historical documents do not have to be altered under the order. That distinction matters for readers looking at existing government records: the directive addresses current executive-branch language without requiring the government to go back and rename every earlier reference to AI.

How the order defines the renamed technology

For purposes of implementing the order, ‘Super Intelligence’ and ‘SI’ mean the technologies and systems covered by the existing definition of artificial intelligence in 15 U.S.C. § 9401(3), unless law provides otherwise. The terminology will govern under the order unless a later presidential action consistent with law or an act of Congress supersedes it.

The existing statutory definition describes a machine-based system that, for human-defined objectives, makes predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments. It also addresses how such systems perceive environments, form models and use those models to infer options. The order’s cross-reference therefore gives agencies a legal starting point for applying the new wording; it does not announce a finding that every system within that definition has human-level or greater intelligence.

The distinction also appears in reporting about the term itself. The Washington Post reported on September 25 that academics had used ‘superintelligence’ since the 1990s for machines that did not then exist. It cited philosopher Nick Bostrom’s 1998 description of an intellect much smarter than the best human brains across practically every field. Axios reported that the term has a distinct technical and policy meaning, broadly referring to AI surpassing human cognition, while the boundaries of superintelligence and artificial general intelligence remain unsettled.

What the 60-day proposal must address

The presidential science and technology assistant must propose legislative language within 60 days of September 29. The required submission must assess whether a federal definition of ‘Super Intelligence’ and ‘SI’ should modify, expand or supersede the existing statutory AI definition. It must also propose any appropriate changes to other statutory references to ‘artificial intelligence’ and ‘AI,’ and recommend any further presidential or executive action needed to implement the proposed definition.

Those are tasks for a proposal, not changes Congress has already made. The order does not say what wording the assistant will submit or whether lawmakers will adopt it. For now, the immediate instruction concerns agency terminology in the documents and communications the order identifies, subject to the limits it states.

The White House’s wider AI discussion

The order followed public discussion of the name. The Washington Post reported that Trump said on September 25 he had pitched the label to Chinese leader Xi Jinping; the paper said Xi had not publicly commented on the proposed rebranding at that time. The Associated Press reported that Trump described AI as ‘super intelligence’ at a September 29 White House technology event.

That event also showed that the naming decision sits alongside a separate debate over managing the technology. AP reported Trump’s view that government should not stifle it, while Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei described ‘very real risks’ and said the mechanism for addressing them remained under discussion. AP reported that Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg described an industry accord discussed at the event as involving internal controls, audits and board review. Those remarks concern the event and its industry discussion; the executive order’s concrete requirements are the terminology directive and the proposed definition.