President Trump signed an executive order at the end of September requiring federal agencies to replace artificial intelligence with "Super Intelligence" or "SI" in official usage. The order followed an X poll where "Extreme Intelligence" and "Supreme Intelligence" were also proposed. The stated rationale is that current systems amplify human ingenuity rather than merely imitate intelligence. For business, the wording choice matters because it is already appearing in federal solicitations and may become a political loyalty test.
How the Super Intelligence order spreads
The new term now appears in government procurement, including a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement for "SI-powered" surveillance for detention facilities. Most government websites have swapped the terminology silently, while the National Institutes of Health shows a banner warning that old and new terms may appear during transition. The order does not apply to previously issued regulations or documents, which preserves names such as the Pentagon Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. Adoption remains uneven across departments and officials.
The rollout has produced visible inconsistencies in federal communications. The Pentagon announced Project Meridian to study future warfare one day after the order but used the old terminology. A Federal Trade Commission release used lowercase "superintelligence" instead of the ordered two-word capitalized form. Recent Health and Human Services releases show no sign of the new language. Even Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used "AI" in an October 3 interview, and a national lab researcher repeatedly said "AI" before acknowledging the slip.
The rebrand follows earlier White House renaming efforts tied to dominance or institutional priorities, including Gulf of America, Lake America, Department of War, and the fight over the Kennedy Center name. The Associated Press was barred from some White House press events after refusing "Gulf of America," showing how terminology can carry consequences. AI differs because two-thirds of Americans report interacting with it multiple times per week. On October 27 Trump criticized the Wall Street Journal for not using the new name and suggested a future rule could ban "artificial intelligence" from government documents.
What this means for companies working with AI
For vendors seeking federal contracts, proposal language and product descriptions will need to track agency usage without breaking existing technical documentation. Companies bidding on solicitations such as the ICE surveillance request face a dual vocabulary, with "SI" in new notices and "AI" retained in older regulations, offices and programs. Small contractors may need extra review to match each agency wording, while large suppliers can maintain parallel terms across compliance and marketing teams. The cost is administrative so far, including internal guidance and a legislative definition due for presidential review by end of November.
Signals from major technology firms remain mixed and require careful reading by partners and customers. Six executives signed the nonbinding White House Accord on Super Intelligence: Sundar Pichai, Dario Amodei, Mark Zuckerberg, Greg Brockman, Elon Musk and Jensen Huang. In third-quarter earnings calls only Zuckerberg and Musk used the term consistently, and Meta had already used "superintelligence" since last year. Musk pledged to rename SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI but still mixes terms, Amazon and Alphabet stayed with "AI," and Microsoft used "AI" while mentioning the "Super Intelligence era" to shareholders.
The marker to watch is whether federal procurement and formal documents converge on "SI" after the legislative definition is submitted later in November. Consistent use in solicitations, press releases and agency guides would confirm a durable compliance requirement rather than a symbolic gesture. Continued mixing by agencies, Newsmax and Wall Street Journal, plus selective use by tech executives, would point to limited uptake. Midterm voting, where AI ranks above environment and climate policy for voters, will show whether terminology becomes partisan.
