WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (Infinite Headlines) — President Donald J. Trump’s executive order on “Super Intelligence” changes how the executive branch names artificial intelligence. It does not, by itself, establish that machines have reached a new level of intelligence or replace the federal legal definition of AI.
Trump signed Executive Order 14434, “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence,” on September 29, 2026. It directs executive departments and agencies to use “Super Intelligence” and “SI” instead of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” in a wide range of government communications, to the maximum extent permitted by law.
The policy brings together two different uses of the same term: a new official label for technologies already covered by federal law, and a much more demanding concept discussed by researchers and philosophers.
What changes in government communications?
The order covers official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents and other executive-branch documents that are not statutes. Statutes are laws enacted by Congress; an instruction to change government wording is not the same as Congress rewriting a law.
The direction applies across executive departments and agencies, rather than to a particular technology company or product. Its immediate requirement concerns the words government bodies use, not a new capability that a vendor must deliver.
The order also leaves existing records alone. It does not require changes to previously issued regulations, presidential actions, contracts, grants or other historical documents. An older contract using “artificial intelligence,” for example, does not have to be rewritten simply to adopt the new label.
Does “SI” mean something different from AI under the order?
For now, the order gives the new terminology the same scope as the existing federal definition of artificial intelligence in 15 U.S.C. § 9401(3), except where the law provides otherwise.
That means “Super Intelligence” and “SI,” when used for the purposes of this order, encompass the same technologies and systems already covered by that statutory AI definition. The new wording does not set a higher intelligence threshold that systems must meet to fall within the category.
The incorporated definition remains in place unless a later lawful presidential action or an act of Congress supersedes it. A possible future change in the definition is a separate step from the terminology change already directed by the order.
What does superintelligence mean as a technical concept?
Philosopher Nick Bostrom uses a substantially more demanding definition in his book Superintelligence: an intellect that greatly exceeds human cognitive performance in virtually all domains of interest.
That concept concerns the breadth and level of a system’s abilities. It is different from giving the existing statutory category of AI a new name. Under Bostrom’s definition, exceptional performance in one task would not, on its own, meet the requirement of greatly exceeding human performance across virtually all relevant domains.
The Machine Intelligence Research Institute describes a related possibility called an “intelligence explosion.” In that scenario, a machine becomes better than humans at designing AI, then improves its own intelligence through a feedback loop. Improvements in its abilities could support further improvements.
The institute presents this as a possible scenario, not as an observed consequence of Trump’s executive order.
Why is the administration changing the name?
The order says the terminology is intended to reflect what the administration considers the technology’s advancing capabilities and promise. Its descriptions of frontier systems are administration claims, not independent verification that superintelligence, in the more demanding conceptual sense, exists.
Could the legal definition change later?
The order requires the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology to submit proposed legislative language to the president within 60 days of September 29, 2026. The assistant is to consult agency heads as the assistant considers appropriate.
The proposal must assess whether a new federal definition should modify, expand or replace the existing statutory AI definition. It must also address related amendments needed elsewhere in federal law and recommend any further presidential or executive action. The order itself does not adopt that future definition.
What limits apply?
Implementation is subject to applicable law and available appropriations—the funding authorized for government work. The order creates no enforceable right or benefit and preserves existing agency authorities and the specified functions of the Office of Management and Budget director. It assigns the costs of publishing the order to the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
