President Trump has ordered the federal government to stop calling artificial intelligence by its old name and start using ‘Super Intelligence’ instead.
In an executive order published by the White House, Trump directed the executive branch to replace ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘AI’ with ‘Super Intelligence’ and ‘SI’ — at least in official government communications. The technology’s actual legal definition, however, stays exactly as it is, at least until a November 28 deadline.
A new name for the executive branch
The order, titled ‘Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence,’ argues that today’s systems have outgrown the old term. The White House says modern AI ‘far exceed what was envisioned when the term “Artificial Intelligence” first came into use,’ and now ‘increasingly represent not merely artificial intelligence, but a new era of Super Intelligence.’
So the directive is fairly blunt: ‘It is therefore the policy of my Administration that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the executive branch shall use the terms “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in place of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI”,’ Trump wrote. The order adds that the executive branch ‘will not acknowledge’ the older terms ‘in any applicable setting.’
That’s a lot of words to describe what is, at its core, a rebranding. But the administration clearly wants the terminology shift to be felt across agencies, from policy documents to public-facing websites.
The definition stays put (for now)
Here’s the wrinkle: the order redefines the new term using the old one. Section 3 of the order states that ‘Super Intelligence’ means the technologies and systems covered by the statutory definition of artificial intelligence in 15 U.S.C. 9401(3).
In other words, until something changes, ‘Super Intelligence’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence’ mean the same thing under federal law. And that equivalence may not hold for long.
The order gives the White House’s top science and technology adviser 60 days to propose a new legal definition, putting the deadline at November 28. That proposal must assess whether the new definition should modify, expand upon, or supersede the current statutory definition, and it must propose amendments to existing laws that reference AI.
Trump described frontier systems in the order as doing ‘much more than imitate or automate discrete aspects of human intelligence.’ The new definition is supposed to reflect those capabilities — though the order notes that changing the statutory definition itself would require an Act of Congress, not just presidential action.
The White House Accord on Super Intelligence
Trump didn’t just issue the order — he put the new name to work the same day. He and the leaders of six technology companies signed the ‘White House Accord on Super Intelligence,’ a voluntary set of safety commitments for frontier models, which he posted on Truth Social.
The accord, subtitled ‘Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities,’ carries the signatures of Sundar Pichai of Google, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Greg Brockman of OpenAI, Elon Musk of xAI, and Jensen Huang of Nvidia — alongside Trump’s.
Notably absent are two of the seven companies that made voluntary AI commitments to the Biden White House in July 2023, according to a White House fact sheet from that time: Microsoft and Amazon.
Four layers of voluntary controls
The signatories say companies that train and deploy frontier models need ‘robust internal processes and controls’ to ensure their technology behaves as intended. The document lays out four layers of controls and audits:
- Internal monitoring of model capabilities and alignment, covering areas like cybersecurity, biosecurity, and chemical threats.
- An internal verification team to check those controls.
- An independent external auditor or evaluator.
- An independent committee of the board of directors to oversee the process.
But the accord stops short of hard requirements. It doesn’t name specific auditors, set deadlines, or require companies to disclose audit findings to customers or regulators. The signatories say they ‘believe each company should implement’ the four layers, and note that codifying the steps into law ‘may make sense’ over time — but they’re not committing to that now.
The document also refers to ‘frontier models’ throughout its commitments, with only its title adopting the ‘Super Intelligence’ term mandated by the executive order.
What this means for you
For most Windows users, the practical impact is minimal — at least in the short term. The rename applies to official government correspondence, websites, reports, and policy documents. Previously issued regulations, contracts, and grants don’t need to be altered, and the order explicitly does not touch vendor proposals, solicitation responses, or product documentation that still use the older terms.
So you’re unlikely to see your software licenses, terms of service, or the documentation for the tools you use change overnight. Companies like Microsoft are not party to the accord, and the legal definition of AI remains unchanged until at least November 28.
What’s worth watching is whether the 60-day proposal produces a genuinely new definition — or just a relabeled version of the old one. If it does expand the definition, that could ripple through federal contracts, procurement rules, and any state or industry standards that mirror the federal definition.
Where things stand
For now, the current definition of artificial intelligence still applies, unless superseded by presidential action or an Act of Congress. The terminology shift is real for federal agencies, but the underlying rules governing these systems haven’t moved — and the safety commitments from the industry remain voluntary, with no enforcement mechanism attached.
Source: Computerworld
Over to you: Do you think renaming AI to ‘Super Intelligence’ is a meaningful shift, or just a rebrand with no teeth?
