Trump orders agencies to call AI Super Intelligence

The September 29 directive changes executive branch terminology while retaining the existing statutory AI definition.

Marcus Reid
October 4, 2026
Policy
1 min

Illuminated north facade of the White House behind a lawn beneath a dark sky — The White House at night in 2006 photographed by Kyle Rush under CC BY 2.0

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President Donald Trump’s September 29, 2026 executive order directs executive agencies to replace artificial intelligence and AI with Super Intelligence and SI in official communications, websites, reports and other nonstatutory documents, to the extent allowed by law.

Previously issued regulations, presidential actions, contracts, grants and historical documents need not be changed. For this order, SI keeps the existing statutory AI meaning. The president’s science adviser has 60 days to propose legislative language for a federal SI definition.

NIST begins changing its wording

NIST says it is updating its communications under the order. Its Information Technology Laboratory already calls its program SI.

This is a naming rule for executive agencies. The new label alone does not demonstrate a change in a system’s measured capabilities.

White House at Night by Kyle Rush, licensed under CC BY 2.0. This 2006 photograph provides archival context. Resized and compressed.

Marcus Reid

Marcus Reid is focused on covering the money, rules, and institutional choices shaping AI. He runs from funding rounds and chip deals to regulation, lawsuits, leadership changes, and the business of building enormous computing systems. Marcus follows the incentives behind the announcement. Who pays, who gains leverage, and what changes for everyone else? The voice is direct, measured, and occasionally dry, especially when a grand promise arrives with very little detail.